


The Bad Girl's Good Boy~

by MA_XT



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Blood and Violence, Broken Bones, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten Being an Asshole, F/M, Happy Ending, Minor Injuries, Not Actually Unrequited Love, please comment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28791741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MA_XT/pseuds/MA_XT
Summary: Of course Yangyang didn't pay attention to the customers that came in, who would when there was so many a day? But, maybe he could make an effort to look out for the one person that always came in looking a little rougher than she did the day before.
Relationships: Liu Yang Yang/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	The Bad Girl's Good Boy~

“You okay there?” Yangyang asked, his lips pursed as he looked at the scene in front of him, one that was best described as pitiful and worse described as a disaster. Dejun was kneeling, his apron stained with split coffee and smeared icing from a slice of cake that he had managed to unceremoniously knock to the floor, hands also slippery from the pungent fluid as he held the now dirtied coffee machine. “Can you, like, go back to the register?”

“ _Can you go back to the register?_ ” The elder man mocked, his dark eyebrows forming angry lines on his visage. “Maybe if you used your eyes, you’d see that I need to clean up this mess. You go to the register.”

Holding up his hands in surrender, Yangyang only just managed to bite back the smile that threatened to split his cheeks, watching as Dejun slipped a little on his attempt at …..reaching for the mop. “Well, just saying, if you’d listened to me when I said that it was making a weird noise, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Fuck off and be smug somewhere else.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth it to pull the leg of an already frazzled man, he spun around on his heel and walked away from the mess - ignoring the smell of coffee that now stuck to his skin and clothes like glue. Though, he supposed it was all well and good; he was a coffee shop worker after all (or, as he liked to call it, a glorified servant, though that was neither here nor there).

Working at the counter and taking orders, while it wasn’t his favourite thing in the world, was much preferred to mopping up the mess that seemed to seep into every crevice of the tiled floor. Truly, it was a shame that Dejun had been the unfortunate victim of the coffee machine’s wrath despite it gurgling and hissing at Yangyang a little earlier while he made a latte; he could only thank the heavens it wasn’t him on the receiving end of such misfortune.

The shop wasn’t terribly busy, with many customers opting to take their drinks out instead of sitting inside - though there were still a few notable stragglers that had been there for upwards of an hour or two. Though, he wasn’t too bothered, as long as they weren’t making a scene or taking up too many places - he usually let them be. 

He checked the under counter display, looking to see if there was anything he needed to replenish and realising he needed to replace the dwindling red velvet cake. But, there was one problem: getting it meant that he had to cross the sea of coffee as well as a seething Dejun. Perhaps he could get away with not doing anything about it just now.

Deciding to tidy the area around the till instead, he wiped away the crumbs with a cloth and adjusted the pile of napkins - resisting the urge to fold one into a swan like he had seen Kun do a few days earlier (and also because he knew he would inevitably flop and it would be embarrassing for both him and the unfortunate napkin).

Nonetheless, he didn’t have to make up work for long, the bell over the door ringing to signal a new customer. He greeted her with a smile and a ‘hello’, barely paying attention to her, though noticing that her features were mostly obscured by the hood of her coat - the fur covering the vast majority of her eyes. 

“Hi, could I please have a medium hot chocolate and a slice of-” He prayed she didn’t pick red velvet lest the floor be covered in his own red after he annoyed his coworker by walking across. “Red velvet cake, if there’s any left.”

‘Fuck,’ he cursed internally while skillfully managing to keep any signs of his mental breakdown hidden. “There is, I’ll just have to go back into the kitchen and get it for you. Anything else?” A shake of the head. “That’ll be ₩7200.” 

She handed over the money, standing off to the side and pulling something out of her pocket to look at - though he barely paid attention as he was stuck in his inner own turmoil. 

Maybe if he ran across, Dejun wouldn’t be able to catch him, yet he could still whack him with the mop. Or perhaps he could tip toe across and minimise how much of his feet actually touched the floor. 

No matter what he did, he just needed to get the cake and fast. 

Very faintly, Yangyang could see him mopping up with a stormy expression, lips pulled into a foul frown as the sound of water sloshing could faintly be heard. 

‘Okay.’ He steeled himself. ‘Go… now!’

Without giving himself time to backtrack on his actions, he was suddenly racing across the kitchen, the floor slippery under the soles of his converse, though the speed he was using kept him from slipping and flying across the tiles. He slid around the corner, grabbing onto the counter to stop himself from crashing into it full force. 

Dejun stared at him, bewildered with his behaviour as he grabbed the covered cake, holding it in the crook of his left arm before taking off again. 

Yangyang could not be bested; he was simply too agile, too lithe, the wind flowing through his hai-

His foot skidded on a particularly wet patch of flooring, racing out from under him as he yelped - the sound surely carrying over to the woman who was standing near the counter. The world seemed to pass in slow motion, his fall from grace viewed by the leering gaze of his amused coworker and by the customer who had indirectly led to his demise. 

The cake was clutched to his chest, shielded with his body as he landed flat on his ass, the residual mop water seeping into his jeans as he scrambled back up with both sets of cheeks burning. 

Very faintly, he could hear sniggering in the background and while it was deserved, he couldn’t stop himself from glaring. “Shut up.”

“Karma’s a bitch.”

He ignored that comment.

Yangyang found himself speeding through the process of making the hot chocolate, the drink itself taking less than two minutes to make and deliver, the cake slice packed up into a brown box. “Sorry for the delay,” he said, barely meeting her gaze as he put the items on the counter. “Here you go!”

“Yeah… Thank you.” And it was the subtle hint of mirth in her otherwise plain tone that made him want to curl up and be swallowed whole. He had never felt more relief in his life than when she walked away to the table in the far corner of the cafe. Hopefully the phrase ‘out of sight, out of mind’ had some sort of truth to it.

* * *

The sky had started to dissolve into various different colours, the faintest streaks of rough and rose decorated the otherwise navy blue sky. There wasn’t much for him to be doing, the time ticking by at snail pace as people seemed to walk by without even a glance inside. Even entertaining himself by doing origami with napkins had become dull, his fingers drumming against the brown stained wood of the counter. 

Glancing at the clock, he realised that there was only 15 minutes left until they officially closed and judging by the overall lack of people on the roads, he doubted anyone else would be coming in. It couldn’t hurt to do some closing duties a little earlier.

Grabbing a cloth from near the sink, he was just about to start wiping some of the tables closest to him when he heard the bell chime.

“Oh, are you closed?” They asked and he shook his head, dropping the cloth on the side.

“Not yet. What can I get you?”

“Just a medium hot chocolate, please.”

The sudden realisation of who she was made him cringe, his stomach squeezing as he realised it was the same woman that had seen his disastrous fall only a few days earlier. “...That’s ₩4000.”

If she had noticed the way his voice rose a little higher than normal at the end of his sentence, she didn’t let it show and instead handed him the money wordlessly. Yangyang couldn't have scurried away fast enough, moving to the machines to make the drink. 

There wasn’t much sound in the shop, with only the hum of electrical appliances and the sound of his own shoes squeaking when he moved with a little too much pressure. 

“Thank you,” she spoke, hood pulled up once again and he wondered why, though once glance outside had answered his question - raindrops pattering against the large ceiling to floor windows. “Have a good day.”

He hadn’t been expecting the reply, having already turned around to grab the cloth again. “Uh yeah, you too,” he said, her form already near the door, her head lowered as she looked at her phone before she put it back into her pocket - a piece falling out of her pocket just as she left, the bell jingling. “Wait, excuse me-” Leaving from behind the counter, he rushed to pick it up, opening the door to try and look for her, however no matter how hard he tried to see her through the night, she seemed to have vanished into thin air, the world outside now a navy blue that absorbed all light. “Damn.”

He shut the door, stuffing the note into the pocket of his work jeans and deciding to forget about it - he had things to do that didn’t involve worrying over a piece of paper. 

Beginning to wipe one of the tables, he heard the door to the staff room open, followed by quick paced footsteps. “You finished?”

“Yeah. I don’t think anyone else will come in.” He said, watching as Ten took a cloth for himself and began to wipe machines down, replacing the filters in them as part of the closing routine. 

“Who came in now?”

He moved onto another table. “You know when I slipped and fell on my ass like, two days ago? The same girl who saw that.”

A hearty laugh filled the otherwise quiet atmosphere, Ten’s giggling at his misfortune loud and clear. He didn’t even bother to react, instead carrying on wiping with the hopes of finishing early and going straight home. “Was it the girl that always orders hot chocolate?”

“How’d you know that? You’re a pervert.” He barely dodged the paper towel roll that was aimed for his head. 

“Nice horny conclusion you reached there,” Ten said, the eye roll crystal clear despite Yangyang not being able to see his head. “She comes in pretty much everyday, so I’ve obviously seen her. Normally not this late though.”

“You’re still a pervert for knowing that.”

“You don’t know how much of a pervert I can be, baby.”

He grimaced, shaking his head and trying to erase Ten’s voice from his head to the best of his abilities. “Ew.”

“You started it.”

“Whatever, ge.”

The humming of electricity went quiet as Ten turned them off, sounds of clattering and spraying making itself known. It was oddly calming and Yangyang found himself yawning, the monotony of his duties making him feel the lull of tiredness more than he usually did. “What time is it?”

Ten’s voice was sharp, drawing him out of his second yawn, his jaw snapping shut. “5 minutes till closing. If we hurry up, we can probably get out by ten past.” 

“Good, I feel like I’m gonna fall asleep any second.”

The displays were closed, the extra food stored in the fridge before Ten came around to the front and tapped on his shoulder, his fingers curled up with something in his palm. “Guess what hand I have something in.”

He didn’t get a chance to say anything because he’d already put his hands behind his back and moved the things between his palms. “Which one?”

“...Right?”

His right palm opened and Yangyang reached out to open his other one, nothing in there either. “Close your eyes.”

“No.”

“Come on,” Ten whined a little too childishly for a fully grown man. “Close your eyes.”

“Fine.”

He should have known better. The second he closed his eyes, a hand connected with the back of his neck and he shrieked, the sound startling him more than the faint sting. “Why do you have to be annoying now? Go away.”

“Someone’s moody.” A peppermint was dropped into Yangyang’s hand. 

“You’re lucky you’re older than me.”

Ten was universally thought of as amusing and entertaining to be around, with a sunny disposition and a cheeky smile that could get him out of even the stickiest situations. He had short brown hair, with some strands near his fringe longer than others and often sticking up whenever he walked into his early morning shifts. To everyone, he was a charming young man with eyes that resembled the rich cocoa of the coffee he served, but currently, Yangyang only thought of him as a nuisance. 

“Let’s just close and go home, yeah? The coffee smell is making you snappy,” Ten laughed, shaking his head as he ruffled the younger boy’s hair fondly, the keys jingling in between his fingers as he turned off the lights - the inside of the cafe now just as dark as the outside.

* * *

Even before the day had fully started for him, he was done. The urge to remain in his bed and force Louis to stay next to him was near enough overwhelming until he heard his phone go off with a text from Dejun asking if he was still coming in. ‘No,’ he had wanted to reply, his eyes barely open as he squinted at the blinding screen, ‘I feel like death. Make Ten-ge take my shift.’ But, of course, he knew he had to be responsible and go anyway - even if it had taken him around 30 minutes to muster the will to get up.

And so, when he stood with bleary vision at the till, it was understandable that he wasn’t in the best of moods. The chatter of customers talking blended into white noise, his head feeling heavy as he focused on trying to write out the daily deal on the small chalkboard near the counter. Every stroke and scratch of the chalk made him cringe, the writing turning out messier than usual as he shoved it to the side and tapped his fingers against the counter. 

Each minute was counted until he could go home again and drown in the comfort of his own covers, the sudden feeling of jealousy towards his presumably lounging cat sobering him up a little and he stood up straight; how could he be envious of his own pet? He needed to get it together (then again, how could he not be? Who wouldn’t want to spend their days being coddled and cooed over?).

He huffed, running his hand through his hair just as a woman walked in. Normally, Yangyang barely paid any mind to the customers that came in, simply serving them and deleting the interacting from his memory, though right off the bat he felt the vexation radiating off of the woman in near enough tangible waves. He’d need to make sure to not step on any toes here, lest he get an earful for no reason.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” He greeted, managing to flash his customer service smile as the woman looked at him with a deadpan stare - hackles on the back of his neck rising at the expression. 

“One second.” The tone was snappy and irritable, her lips drawing into a straight line while he shuffled in place, nodding slightly in apology. Clearly his strategy of not stepping on toes was already developing hairline cracks. “I need a large, wait no, a medium black coffee with two expresso shots on the side. No sugar and cream, not whipped.”

“Is that all?”

A scrutinising gaze met his own tired brown hues, the lady’s line of vision moving to the display where the order was. “Are you hard of hearing?”

He was so surprised at the question that he couldn’t help himself from spluttering out a ‘what?’, internally cursing himself a moment later when her glower made goosebumps rise. 

“I said I wanted a medium. I clearly corrected myself, you must not be very good with listening. That’s why I asked if you’re hard of hearing.”

Discomfort washed over him, his smile dropping entirely as he grit his teeth. Removing the large order that was placed, he was trying to put in the correct size with an increasing awareness as to how many of the seated customers were looking at them both. Her constant glaring wasn’t helping in the least.

“Don’t you know how to serve customers?” She scoffed, opening up her bag and looking inside, shifting objects within it as she continued to speak,, “maybe your manager should train you a little better in customer service. I will definitely leave that as a suggestion for you- what is your name?”

This was seriously the last thing he wanted to deal with. “Sorry ma’a-”

“How can you be so rude to someone who’s only doing their job?” Someone spoke, their voice cutting off the woman’s venomous words and saving the slowly bubbling exasperation in his gut from boiling over. “If you want to be a rude hag to people, then go home and yell at yourself in the mirror. Don’t bring your attitude to people who can’t tell you off.”

Suddenly, the anger he felt turned into amusement, especially when the lady’s cheeks began to tint crimson from rage and disbelief. Clearly she hadn’t taken well to being called a hag. 

“How dare you be so rude to me?! Have you never heard of respect?”

“No, I haven’t, and clearly neither have you. I guess we both have that in common.” Yangyang caught a glimpse of the person speaking and the immediate recognition allowed him to find even more humour in the situation. 

“If you’re so bothered about your coffee, no one’s stopping you from going home and making it. I think you should either order nice and politely, or leave before you embarrass yourself further,” she spoke, a smile now faintly tugging at the corner of her lips, “Sorry, I meant you should leave now, ma’am.”

He wasn’t able to tell whether the blood that coloured the woman’s face was from anger or from humiliation, but quite frankly, he couldn’t have cared less. In all honesty, he was nothing short of delighted; karma was always a bitch best served ruthless. 

Speechless and left with no reasonable retort, the woman could only barge past her, knocking into her shoulder and pulling her handbag huffily over her shoulder as she left the store - the bell barely allowed to chime before the door slammed shut. Customers that had been watching turned away, now whispering amongst each other: many of them stifling peals of laughter and hiding giggles behind their hands. 

Shaking her head slightly, she came towards the counter and he could barely hold back his gratitude, the headache apparently evaporating as he felt a little giddy instead. “Thank you so much, you have no idea how grateful I am.”

"It's okay. I hate people who do shit like that," she spoke, lips pulled into a soft smile. "Could I get a-"

"Medium hot chocolate?" Yangyang cut in as she nodded slowly, the total coming to the register before the cost was reduced by almost half. "Would you like some cake too? Red velvet, was it?"

"I don't have enough cash on me for cake." 

"Oh, don’t worry about it." His own grin was sincere, now finally able to look at her without the veil of either her hood or his own embarrassment obscuring her. 

If yangyang had been at a loss for words, he would have simply described her as pretty, each of her features perfectly proportional for her visage. However, if he had more than the few seconds he did now, he would have mentioned the soft curves of her face and how each contour seamlessly melded together. She was nothing if not beautiful and he had no shame in admitting that to himself. “That will be ₩2200.”

Like the other times, she handed over the money, but instead of moving away to the side like he had come to expect from her, she stood still with a slight furrow to her brows. “Random question, but yesterday did you happen to find a piece of paper on the floor with numbers on it?”

Nodding hurriedly, he reached into his pocket and rummaged around, fishing it out from the depths of his pocket and picking off the lint before giving it to her. 

“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver.”

Happy that he could help her after she had quite literally saved him from quitting on the spot, he laughed a little as he gave her a thumbs up. “I’m happy to help.”

And it was with a sense of fondness that he watched her take her drink and cake to the same corner booth that she always occupied, the piece of paper smoothed out and placed on the table in front of her, before his attention was redirected to the bell’s chiming as another customer entered.

* * *

Apparently it was becoming more of a regular occurrence for the sun to go down and for customers to completely disappear along with the rays of gold. After the midday rush had slowed down, Yangyang was practically falling asleep from boredom, his time now being spent by walking in circles in the drink making area, or by watching the poor students in the corners type away at their laptops with dizzying speeds (he had also briefly wondered how their keyboards weren’t aflame). He was also currently the only one in, with Dejun running late from missing his bus as Ten had waved goodbye to him around 10 minutes earlier; there was no option for him left other than to rot in his own ennui.

Plucking a cookie from the display, he pressed his card against the scanner and waited for it to beep when a shadow was cast over his view. 

“Hi,” she greeted, face obscured once again by her hood. Her voice was as level as ever,wholly recognisable through her enunciation. “How are you?”

Yangyang blinked, the cookie placed on a napkin to the side. “I didn’t hear you come in.” It was true, the bell hadn’t gone off like the multiple other times it had during his shift. “I’m okay. You?”

“I’d say I’m good too. Could I have a medium hot chocolate?”

Her order had been typed in before the last word was spoken, the movements feeling practised and easy. “₩4000, please.”

While each of their actions were the same, Yangyang felt hyper aware of how her fingers brushed against his for the barest of seconds, the heat from her digits spreading to his own before dissipating before he could ever attempt to delight in it. “I’ll be one second.”

It barely took more than a minute for him to make it, the ingredients put together quickly as he added extra cocoa and cream, deciding to make a small smile with the cream; cheesy? Yes it was, but he wanted to give her something to make her feel a little happier.

Yangyang turned around to head back, seeing her drop something and lean down to pick it up just as he approached the counter, seconds away from placing the drink down. Though, instead of putting it down and going back to his cookie, he held onto it tighter as he looked at her face - the hood falling as she stood straight again. 

Instead of the unmarred countenance he had come to associate with her, he saw a bruised lip, one that was seemingly so fresh that blood hadn’t had the chance to clot. A similar injury ran across the curve of her cheek, the injury too deep to be superficial with crimson staining the skin surrounding it. The skin of it was raised, cut haphazardly in a way that he knew had hurt. Much like the bruise, it was also too raw, too new. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

“Sorry?”

Astounded at how oblivious she was, he wordlessly pointed to his own cheek, mouth opening and closing with the words he wanted to say but had died in his throat. “You’re bleeding.” He eventually managed, the drink sloshing within the cup as he moved his hand. 

His astonishment only grew when she took a napkin, apologising quietly as she dabbed at her cheek and lip, muttering too quietly for him to hear. While he may not have known her intimately, he’d formed a liking towards her because of her familiarity; he couldn’t just let her dab at her wounds with a paper towel that had been on the counter for only god knew how long. “Don’t- don’t touch it with those.”

Her hand froze, deep eyes looking into his own as he thought about what to say next. Oh god. He couldn’t think when she was looking at him, the deep colour of her eyes making him feel like he was trying to crawl his way out of a slope that became steeper and steeper. Fortunately (or unfortunately), his mouth moved faster than his brain and he uttered the words ‘come to the back, please.’

“Huh?”

There was no way he could backtrack now, not when he could see that her cheek was smeared with rouge, fresh droplets of blood beginning to form as she had accidentally patted away the thin layer of scabbing. “We have a first aid kid in the back. I can let you use it.” Praying that she wouldn’t think he was weird, he squeezed the cup that much tighter. 

“...Do you have plasters?”

“Yeah.”

Hand dropping from its position in midair, the tissue was shoved into her pocket before a slow nod gave him his anticipated answer. “Then if it’s not too much trouble…”

“It isn’t. Follow me.” Of course it wasn’t any trouble, he wanted to say, the words echoing in his mind as he guided her past the counter and pushed open the wooden door that led to his perceived second home. “You can sit on the sofa there, I’ll be one second.”

“Wait-” He turned around to look at her, her figure closer to him than he had originally thought and he almost took a step back, “could I have my uh-”

Yangyang looked down, the heat from the cup rivalling the warmth that blossomed on his cheeks, mumbling a soft ‘oh’ before he handed it over and near enough ran away to the corner where the first aid kit lay tucked away in the cabinets. He hoped that there was still some things within it, especially since he could barely remember the last time that it had been refilled (not that it was used much in the first place).

Opening up the green box, he was pleased to see that there was still plasters as well as half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cotton pads. Her injuries weren’t life threatening and he presumed they didn’t need much more than some cleaning. “There you go,” Yangyang stated, putting the box beside her on the sofa.

“Is there a mirror I could use?”

He shook his head. “You could use the washroom mirror, but I don’t know how sanitary that would be since it’s open to customers too.”

Puffing out her cheeks, she took her phone out and flipped it to the camera, trying to balance it on the box. The camera moved around, landing front down on her lap when she so much as breathed - her frustration slowly becoming more palpable. 

It seemed like he would have to interfere after all; well... beyond what he’d already done anyway. “Do you want me to, like, clean it for you?”

What he’d said didn’ fully register with him until he caught the way she’d stopped readjusting her phone to openly stare at him, his mouth running dry as he quickly thought of what to say to make the heaviness in the air disappear.

Though, she beat him to it. “That would be really helpful.” Maybe he was the only one feeling the air pressure lighten because she seemed unaffected, unbothered. “I won’t bite you, promise.”

The retort of ‘I’d bite back’ was suppressed in lieu of pulling out a chair in front of her and sitting down, the bottle cap unscrewed as he pressed a cotton pad to the mouth. 

“How did you get hurt?” He questioned, wanting to take his mind off of how close he was going to have to lean in, his internal temperature surely going sky high as he lightly moved the soaked pad across her skin. 

“Just by being stupid, it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Ah, right.” His voice quietened, entirely focused on wiping away the blood that had caked her visage. Yangyang knew from experience that using the disinfectant on even the smallest cuts hurt like hell, so he was surprised when she barely reacted, simply letting him carry on without a word - the drink sitting neatly on the table with the faintest streak of red near the mouth of the lid. 

It didn’t take too long to clear her skin of all scarlet and he forced himself to confront the elephant in the room: the cut on her bottom lip.

She didn’t say or do anything to suggest any discomfort, but he hesitated for a second nonetheless. Was this too much? They didn’t even know each other that well. Yes they’d met each other a few times, but they weren’t close. What if he was being weird? What if-

“Sorry about my chapped lips, I couldn’t really put any lipgloss on.”

“I didn’t even notice.” While it wasn’t entirely a false, it would have been a lie to say that he hadn’t been looking at them already.

He didn’t think he’d ever stared so intently at someone's lips before, his touch faint and gentle, as though he were handling a piece of china that was liable to shatter at even the slightest pressure. No matter how hard he tried not to think about it, he couldn’t truly shake the urge to run his thumb along the subtle curves of them, along the cupid's bow before ending at the bruise in the corner. That was why he let out a quiet sigh as soon as he finished, discarding the cotton and dousing a fresh one for her cheek.

“Won’t you get into trouble for this?” She asked, voice so low that he would have missed it had he not been mere inches away. 

His hues flickered from where he had been cleaning to her eyes, his own form reflected in the pupils and he couldn’t quite place the emotion that made stars form within the endless depths. “No,” he replied with just that much more volume than she’d spoken with, “I won’t.” 

Truthfully, he had no idea whether he would be chewed out for leaving the counter unwatched while no one else was there, but he could deal with that tongue lashing when it came. 

The cotton pad moved over the cut again as he made a second pass, cleaning away the grime as the tips of his fingers grazed for a brief second over her skin - the sound of his own blood rushing past his ears now nearly deafening. God, what was wrong with him?

Throwing the soiled cotton pad away, he pulled out a plaster, a laugh bubbling from his lips as he saw the animated teddy bear on the front of it, little hearts decorating the space that the bear wasn’t occupying. “I don’t think we have any plain ones. You can blame Hyuck for that if you see him.”

She mirrored his amusement, grinning as she looked at it. “It’s cute, much better than the boring beige ones anyway. I’ll thank him instead.” Yangyang only shook his head, undoing the back before shuffling closer, so close that he could almost feel the ghost of her breaths against his skin. He just needed to hurry up before he lost his mind. The bandage was smoothed against her cheek, placed neatly with care that he wasn’t aware he possessed before this moment. For a few moments too long, his touch lingered and he was suddenly painfully aware of her gaze burning into him before he moved away, choosing to move away and monetarily busy himself with rearranging the first aid kit’s contents. 

“Thank you.” The cup was picked up again. “I should get going now.”

“Yeah um-” the words were stuck in his throat, syllables fumbling and melding together before he could choke them out. “I’ll see you later?”

Her small chuckle echoed in the room, in his ears, in his head. “Probably. Thanks again-” she paused for a split second as she looked towards his apron, “Yangyang. Thank you, Yangyang.”

Too dumbfounded to reply, he nodded a little pathetically and watched as she left, the door swinging for a few moments before it stilled and he groaned, his head in his hands. “What the fuck is wrong with me?” (In his heart of hearts, he knew exactly what was wrong, but the thought of entertaining his thoughts, even to his lonesome, felt like he was committing himself to a lifetime of shame.)

* * *

Yangyang had been standing in the corner of the kitchen, a cookie between his fingers as he absent mindedly scrolled through his phone, wasting his thirty minute break by doing nothing as per usual. 

Just a few meters in front of him, Dejun was languidly filling up an order for a latte, humming a soft tune under his breath. It wasn't too busy, nor was it dead like the grave; there was a comfortable flow of customers that could easily be handled by one person. 

"Hey." Yangyang looked up, midway through another bite. "Do you know where Hyuck is? He went into the staff room and just disappeared."

He shrugged, shoving his phone into his pocket. "I'll go look, one second."

"Thanks."

Pushing open the door, he looked around, trying to find any signs of life from within. A large coat was thrown across the back of one of the sofas, a drink from the café across the road also on the table, half drunken, mind you.

"Hyuck?" He called out, looking at the staff toilets and seeing that it was empty as well. Nonetheless, his quest barely took more than five minutes, the sound of giggling and muffled speech leading him to the small security room (which was really just a glorified closet with two monitors inside that showed the CCTV footage). 

At first he didn't spot Donghyuck, a lanky figure blocking him from seeing the boy sat in the chair, but his laughter was enough to tell Yangyang that he was definitely there. 

"Dejun's been looking for you. You do know you're on shift, right?" He said, loitering near the door frame as two faces turned around to look at him. "Oh, hey, Hyungwon-hyung. I didn't see you come in."

"I came in from the back. I saw Ten leaving and wanted to avoid his dumbassery," Hyungwon spoke, an slight smile on his plush lips as he leant against the desk, his eyes flickering to Donghyuck beside him. Despite the grin that he was clearly biting back, Hyungwon looked as modelesque as ever - his lean figure making the otherwise boring uniform look like something ready for the runway; the cotton candy pink hair only added to allure.

"I know," Donghyuck said, barely holding back his laughter as he fake coughed into his fist. "I'll go in a second, just doing something very important here."

Completely oblivious as to the reason why the duo looked like they were going to start cackling, he furrowed his brows. "What are you even doing?"

"Just looking through the CCTV." They exchanged another glance and Hyungwon covered his mouth, pulling up his shirt collar to do so. 

Yangyang deadpanned. "Are you sure?" 

"Yes."

"Cool. But what's so funny about that?"

Shrugging, Donghyuck swung around in the chair, rotating back and forth as he eyed Yangyang, looking him up and down very obviously. "Nothing, nothing."

More stifled laughter followed his words and he'd had enough, already turning on his heel to leave the room. "You're both fucking weird." 

"Eh? You're not going that fast, Hyung, grab him-" 

A hand latched onto his collar, pulling him back with a surprising amount of force as he was turned to face the monitors. 

"Not so fast, kiddo. You're staying here for a moment," Hyungwon said, still holding onto his collar to prevent him from running away.

Donghyuck crossed his legs, putting the tips of his fingers together to create a diamond shape - clearly he was going for a movie villain vibe. "Hyung and I found some very interesting footage. Of course, we just started this day as normal and looked through the security because the owner is fucking crazy for that shit, but what do we see?"

They both smirked in unison, leaving yangyang to grimace at their behaviour. 

"You and a girl," Hyungwon finished.

Oh god, he thought, already trying to think of an excuse. He barely noticed that Hyungwon had let go and had closed the door - trapping him inside with two devils intent on his demise.

"But! Not just any girl, the same girl who Ten-hyung said you've been ogling for weeks now." Donghyuck stood up and went behind him, holding his face and squishing his cheeks as he made him look at the footage. 

Embarrassment washed through him near enough instantly, his skin turning hot under Donghyuck's touch. "Shut up. Don't you have better things to do?"

"No, we don't," Hyungwon chimed in, plopping himself down on the seat as he rewound to when Yangyang was centimetres away from her, cleaning her skin "Young love is so sweet to witness."

"I'm not in love."

Donghyuck let go, now openly cackling as Yangyang hid his face. An open palm connected with his back and he jolted forward, now even closer to the computer. "Yeah, you are. You can literally see you staring at her lips, gay boy.”

Despite knowing it was futile, he couldn’t help but try to deny it anyway, shaking his head and frowning. “No I wasn’t. I was just cleaning her cuts.”

When Hyungwon wasn’t slinking around like some sort of criminal in the background, he lived to tease everyone else on the team. “Aww, you’re blushing.”

Donghycuk came closer, practically caging the poor boy in. “Yangyang and coffee girl sitting in a tree-”

“K.”

“I.”

“S.”

“S.”

“I.”

“N.”

“G.”

“Oh my god. How old are you guys?” He exclaimed, trying to shove Donghyuck out of the way to make a break for it - the flames of hell licking at his insides. Since when did he work with overgrown children?

“Did you ask her out?” Hyungwon asked, speeding the recording again so it was back in real time, looking more so at the screen than Yangyang. “Or did she ask you out?”

Instead of answering, he only grumbled. “I hate you both.”

“You want to fuck us so bad.”

Ignoring Donghyuck’s comment, he pushed past him into the staff room and he had never been more grateful to be in the navy blue room with its worn down carpet and creaking couches. Speaking with them further was bound to lead to a headache.

If Dejun wanted Hyuck that bad, he could go get him himself. 

Leaving the staff room, he took up his spot near the machines once again, the low hums a background noise as he finished off his neglected cookie. 

They followed not soon after, Hyungwon going to counter before circling back as soon as he looked over it, a shit eating smile on his face.

“She’s here, look.” Hyungwon pointed out, four pairs of eyes going to the table in the corner where the woman of the hour was sat, a piece of paper being folded and put away. “Go sit with her.”

“No. I’m working.”

“Your break lasts for 15 more minutes,” Dejun interrupted ‘helpfully’ and he glared at the man. 

“Forget this. Team, we’re going to have to use evasive maneouvers,” Donghyuck said, “attack him!” He stood no chance with three men targeting him from every angle, no matter how hard he fought.

“Shi- stop fucking pushing me,” Yangyang hissed, only to be shoved with monumental strength that had him nearly tripping over his own feet, stumbling past the counter and into the seating area. If he had been faster, he could have scrambled back to the safety of the kitchen, but alas, the universe worked only to conspire against him and he was spotted by her, a small wave in his direction signalling that his cover was blown.

No matter, he would murder them both later.

Slinking into the seat opposite her, he noticed how the midday sun streamed through the windows and partially illuminated her features, a warm glow cast over her skin and creating the fragile yet damning image of an angel. “Hi,” he said sheepishly, very aware of the trio that were staring at them from the counter. “Your cheek looks like it's getting better.”

“It is,” she replied, left hand curled around her warm drink before absentmindedly running a finger across the plaster (one that was cartoonish, much like its predecessor). “I couldn’t put a beige one on after you gave me such a cute one. I went out and found a few with hello kitty on it. Do you like it?”

Nodding far too quickly for it to be subtle, he let himself smile widely - flattered that she had thought of him for something like that. “It looks better than the bear one. Hello kitty is badass.”

“Right? Who needs the police when you have Miss kitty to protect you?” She got up suddenly, telling him to wait for one moment before she returned with another fork, using it to cut the cake down the middle. “Would you like the other half?”

“You don’t have to-”

“We’re friends,” She said simply, his heart beginning to pound faster in his chest, hammering against his sternum, “I can share things with friends.”

He nodded, a realisation hit him as she passed over the fork, the plastic utensil warm from her touch. “Shit, uh, this is, like, really awkward to ask now, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten your name?”

A beat of silence followed where she didn’t speak, instead chewing on her cheek and playing with the cardboard sleeve of the cup. “Don’t worry about it. It’s (y/n).”

Repeating the name in his head, he mumbled it under his breath, letting the syllables roll over his tongue. “You know mine, I’m pretty sure. But I’m Yangyang.”

“I mean, it’s hard to forget when it’s on your apron.” The tone was light, said with no bite at all. “How has your day been?” She asked, her fork pressed into her half of the cake before she spooned it into her mouth, looking at him almost expectantly.

“Uh well, it’s been pretty okay,” he shrugged, not feeling like he had to sugar coat anything, “nothing really interesting happened apart from me waking up with Louis sat on me.”

“Louis?” She said, “is that your partner?”

Almost choking on his own saliva, he shook his head quickly - hearing snorts coming from behind the counter. “He’s my cat.”

A sheepish smile replaced her neutral expression. “Ah, sorry.”

“Easy mistake.” He smoothed over it, finding it a little funny too. “Even if he was human, he’d probably just ignore me. He’s so moody.”

The plate was pushed towards him, the ceramic edge nudging his hand and tempting him into mimicking her earlier actions of taking a piece. The thought of them sharing an indirect kiss threatened to make his head spin. “Do you have any pictures of him? I love cats.”

Nodding with a mouthful of cake (and he had to say, her choice in baked goods was very impressive), he took out his phone and pressed on the latest picture he had, leaning over a little to show her. 

Louis, while maybe not being the most spontaneous cat ever, was still beautiful and clearly she shared the same sentiment, her eyes going wide as she looked at the brown and white coloured feline. “He’s so pretty!” She exclaimed, adding yet another name to the list of Louis’ admirers, “he looks so soft. You must take good care of him.”

“I hope so,” he laughed, swiping across to show her images where he was rolling around on the floor and playing with a ball of yarn that was steadily unravelling. “He makes me feel like a mum of a rebellious teen.”

“Siamese cats are divas. He would have clawed you up otherwise. Is he talkative?”

Delighted that he had something to speak to her about, he felt like he could have talked for ages; and with Louis as the topic, there was certainly a lot to discuss. “Most of the time, but sometimes he just likes to ignore me for fun. He really likes coming to me while I’m doing something and meow loud enough for the whole building to hear.”

Moving along to a video, he tapped on the screen and put the phone flat on the table so he could lean over and look too - not noticing how close he had gotten (though, she hardly seemed bothered either, too engrossed with Louis). 

He was running across the room, trying to catch the red laser beam that Yangyang had cast. In the background, the sound of his laughter and of him speaking mandarin could be heard, the dot moving to the sofa instead of the wall. However, instead of jumping down sensibly, Louis seemed to fly as he launched himself from on top of the shelf he'd climbed onto. A loud thud reverberated around the room and so did his cursing, the video ending abruptly. "He didn't hurt himself, by the way. He just decided to act like an idiot."

"Relatable," she commented, looking at a picture of him sleeping and pouting a little. "I love him."

Yangyang nodded in agreement. "So do I, even if he doesn't feel the same." 

"You can speak chinese?" 

"Yeah, I'm Taiwanese."

She made a small noise of acknowledgement, licking the little bit of frosting that had ended up on her lips, his eyes following the subtle movement. "Makes sense, you are really pretty." The compliment made him blush despite himself, replying with a bashful 'thank you'. That would definitely be replaying in his head for a long time to come. 

He took another piece of the cake, unconsciously synchronising with her as she did the same. "Do you have anything you're-"

The sound of her phone ringing cut him off, an apologetic glance sent his way as she answered it, only to stand up a moment later. 

A hand was pressed to the microphone for a moment. "I have to go, it was nice talking to you," she said and he could barely get out his 'bye' before she was walking out, the cake left on the table. 

Yangyang sighed, a little disappointed with their time being cut short, but as he stuck his frosting coated fork into his mouth, he supposed that it wasn't all that bad.

* * *

Late shifts were always tiring, the boy barely awake as he closed up the shop and left to go home. The sun had set a few hours ago, the only illumination left being that of the lamp posts - artificial light bathing the lifeless streets in a gold hue. 

Nonetheless, he was just eager to go home and jump right into his bed. Dealing with customers all day was always draining, especially when he hadn't seen his favourite one either. For hours he had held out the hope that maybe he would see her a little later, but closing time had come and there was no hide nor hair of her to be seen. 

It didn’t usually take long for him to walk home, a 15 minute walk maximum and 10 if he decided to speed walk instead of his normal leisurely pace. But, as he continued to walk down the empty roads, the far away sound of traffic the only other thing he could hear, he wondered if he should bother using the backways to get there faster. 

Normally he didn’t even consider it, finding them to be rather unsavoury even during the daytime and tended to avoid it, but tiredness was inhibiting his common sense and he found himself slowing down near the entryway. ‘It’s only quick,’ he thought to himself, ‘are you a fucking loser? Just go through it’. And, of course, his self bullying was much louder than his sense of self preservation and he was hurriedly walking down it. Each drop of water from the gutters echoed, the scurrying of little animals seeming larger than life as he passed through the gap between the buildings. ‘You’re being paranoid,’ he told himself, ‘just walk through and go home.’ To his relief, there was a lamp post just at the end of the alleyway that broke the dark inkinesss of the alley.

Nonetheless, he wouldn’t be as lucky as he had hoped. No, not when a hand had grabbed his arm and tugged him backwards, his feet slipping from under him as he yelped. The grip was tight, digging into his skin even through the jacket he wore. 

His heart lurched to his throat as the adrenaline began to make his head spin, his elbow slamming into whoever had grabbed him. 

A grunt sounded right beside him, a hiss of 'scream and I'll kill you' filling his head. Within a second, he was being shoved with a hand to his chest and slammed against the wall; the taste of copper in his mouth.

It was only now, under the meagre rays of the lamp posts, that he could see the person that had decided to attack him. A ski mask covered their face, stretched over their features and letting him only see cold, black irises that seemed to absorb all light. A printed skull decorated the cheek of the mask, but Yangyang wasn't focused on that. 

His back was pushed against the wall, his shirt riding up from the force with the brick scratching his back. He barely had time to inhale before a hand went to his throat, squeezing with enough force to make him choke. 

'Oh god,' he thought, tears bubbling in his waterline as he scratched desperately at the hand. 'They're going to kill me.'

His lungs were burning - the air whistling as he tried to gasp for air. Nothing was working, not even his kicks were handing on them. If he died here, there would be no one to go home to Louis; he couldn't die now, he'd have so many regrets. 

Something glinted in the darkness and his eyes widened while the hand threatened to crush his windpipe. Yangyang's words sounded like gurgles, barely comprehensible even to himself. 

But he couldn't die here. He wouldn't.

The knife came closer and, with a sudden surge of strength, he shot a hand out to claw at their face. Aiming for their eyes, he dug his fingers into the holes - hearing them yell though it sounded so far away he barely registered it. 

The grip loosened on his throat and he ripped it away from him. A blind grab was made for him, fingers grabbing onto his shirt as they swiped, the knife dangerously close to his face before he managed to dislodge them. 

Air was gulped down as quickly as humanly possible, trying to soothe the ache of his lungs. He couldn't have run away fast enough, the stinging in his throat and the back of his eyes ignored as he ran all the way home. 

And when he finally arrived home, he couldn't have been any more relieved. The door was shut behind him, the walls shaking from how hard he’d slammed it. Every thought blended together, turning into white noise as his whole body felt jittery. His breathing was heavy, his pants the only sound in the room alongside the ticking of the analog clock.

“Louis?” He called out, voice fragile and shaking, the coppery taste not leaving his mouth. “Louis? Where are you?”

Thankfully, the cat was close and had been resting on the cat tree. His meow was soothing, his lithe body padding across the floor with a swaying tail, a higher pitched meow preceding his movements. Louis stood on his hind legs, his head nuzzling against Yangyang’s cheek as he sniffled, running his fingers along Louis’ back. People may have called cats cold and aloof, and while Louis was both of those things and more, he was still a comforting presence. 

Soft sounds of purring rumbled against Yangyang’s shoulder, the licks against his cheek helping to get his mind off of what had happened. “I guess you can tell I feel like shit, huh?” He said, picking him up and hugging him tightly, solace found within the soft fur. “Can you believe someone tried to jump me?” The words were barely above a whisper, a chirp from his pet sounding almost like a reply of ‘really?’. “Yeah, really. They fucking pulled a knife on me. ...I thought I was going to die.”

Holding him tighter, he hadn’t realised that he was crying until Louis shifted and the fur on his stomach was wet, the overwhelming emotion forcing a sob past his lips. The adrenaline had worn off and all he felt was exhausted and jittery, the combination leaving him uneasy and feeling nauseous. Any thought of hunger from earlier had disappeared entirely, his appetite completely gone as he swallowed down the foul taste in his mouth, burying his head further into Louis’ tummy. 

The cat had decided to take it upon himself to gently knead Yangyang’s head, paws pressing against his hair repeatedly until it made him giggle a little despite himself.

Minutes passed by, time now a lot slower and calmer. By now, he could feel the stinging of his lip and how the skin of his neck felt raw and too tender for it to be uninjured. 

Soft kisses were pressed to the fur before he played with Louis’ ears, petting him gently and in a steady rhythm. 

“You’re the best cat ever,” he mumbled, “I love you so much.”

Louis simply blinked, his eyes completely dilated as he licked his paw - forgetting about Yangyang and returning to minding his own business. “Tough crowd.”

With a heavy sigh, he stood up and wiped his face with his sleeve, setting Louis down and going towards the bathroom to clean himself up and head to bed right after; he just wanted the day to end.

* * *

Skipping work the next day to stay hidden in his duvet cocoon, he was forced to return the day after - still a little shaken up but mostly feeling a lot better. It was a one off incident, he convinced himself, as long as he never set foot in the alleyway again, he would be fine (or, that’s what he was praying for). He’d only been given a half shift and while normally he might have grumbled about it, he was just thankful that his day ended while it was still light outside.

Designated to working in the back and making drinks, he had been in the middle of making yet another frappuccino - with specially emphasised extra whipped cream - when he heard Ten calling for him. This wouldn’t have been weird had Ten not been at the till with his break not sue for another hour. Deciding to ignore him, he shook the canister with the cream and perfected a swirl on the top, putting on the lid and pushing the nozzle into the hole to spray in some more. 

“Yangyang!”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, taking the drink to the front and putting it on the pick up area, yelling out a ‘caramel frappacino with extra whip’ and making sure it went to its rightful owner. “Yes, ge?”

“Take your time,” Ten snarked, “it’s not like your girlfriend or anyone is walking in right now.”

Not even bothering to correct him anymore, he looked over the people in the cafe and gave him a confused look. “Where?”

“There, look, she’s crossing the road.” Sure enough, she was crossing the road and heading right for the shop. “You want to serve her?”

“No. I look fucking busted.”

Ten tutted, pushing him in front so he stood at the till, with Ten right behind. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“You’re so close. Are you, like, gay or something?” Ten shoved him, an ‘oof’ sound escaping yangyang. “You’re gonna give me another bruise!”

“Like you aren't," Ten replied without missing a beat, "and you deserve it, baby.”

He barely had time to groan before the bell chimed and she was walking in, greeting him with a small wave before she reached the counter. Ten shifted, no longer pressed against his back like some leering devil on his shoulder, and ‘busied’ himself with the glass display. “Hi.”

“Hey-” She seemed like she was going to say more, the sentence cutting off midway as she furrowed her brow, both of them knitting together as she looked closely at him. “Are you okay?”

Oh yeah. He’d forgotten about the very obvious bruise on his neck and the cut on his lip. “I am now.” He said, punctuating his sentence with a noncommittal shrug. 

“What happened?”

He could feel Ten glance at him and he also debated whether or not to tell her the truth. However, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her face so brazenly. “Yeah well, you see-” He stammered and stuttered, rocking a little on his heels as he tried to think of a way to say what had happened. “I just got into, like, a fight, I guess?”

The excuse was so piss poor that he knew she’d seen right through it, Ten’s scoff certainly not helping his case either. 

“You guess?” She repeated, baffled at his explanation. “I’d think you’d know if you got into a fight or not, right?” 

“Yeah…” He gulped, fiddling with his fingers, “I was- I was walking home and I got attacked. But I’m okay now, don’t worry.”

Her expression dropped, changing from confusion to one that resembled heavy concern and he felt awful for being the cause of it. “How do you feel? A bruise like that is…”

“It’s...I mean- It still hurts a lot, but I can manage it now,” Yangyang managed a smile, though that barely seemed to soothe her worries. 

“Put cooling balms on it, and try to sleep on your back so it doesn’t have any more pressure on it, okay?” If it had been anyone else saying this, he would have felt nagged at, but the care in her tone only left him with a fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach, smiling despite himself. 

“I will.”

Eyes roamed over the marbled hues of purple and blue on his neck before going to his lips, the skin healing faster than expected. “This might be a weird question, but did you see who did it?”

Most of his memory was fuzzy, having been more focused on getting away than ogling whoever was trying to stab him, but he did remember one detail. “They were wearing a ski mask and had black eyes. There was a, uh, I think a skull on it too, like printed on the cheek.” Gesturing to his face where it had been, she nodded slowly, lost in thought for a couple of moments. “Forget that, how are you?”

The way her gaze softened could easily be likened to the image of tenderness, the faint urge to tell her she looked cute bubbling at the back of his throat though never having the grace to be verbalised. “Pretty good.” He didn’t notice the way he fingers curled into fists. “I have to go, I just remembered that I should be getting to the markets before they close. I’ll see you later?”

Though a little disappointed, he nodded. “I will.”

“Bye, Yang-ah.”

The disappointment was suddenly gone and even though he could hear Ten laughing behind him at his rushed and messy ‘goodbye’, he didn’t care in the least.

* * *

It was Donghyuck’s turn to man the till (or as they liked to call it, fool endurance training) and he was less than amused about it. He had specifically asked the manager, an older man who barely ever appeared in the actual shop other than to nag and nitpick, if he could be on drinks making duty - begged even! But the man had struck him down and told him that he would need to bear the dumbassery that customers brought for the next 3 days. 

He was checking the till, counting the money within it and making sure everything was accounted for and the amount of change was correct when he heard footsteps coming towards the counter. A person in a large coat that concealed their frame came over, their wrist protected by a beige brace. 

“Hey,” he said, closing the till as he narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to see if he could see their face; no bueno. “Can I get you anything?”

“Uh, hey. Is Yangyang working today?” The voice was familiar but he was still weary. There were plenty of weirdos around these days and he wasn’t going to put his friend in any more danger than necessary.

“Sorry, I can't give employee information o-" The hood was pulled down, revealing a face he had come to know very well. Of course it was her; why the hell wouldn't it be her? "Right. He is here, he's just sitting in the staff room. I'll be back in one second."

Near enough breaking into a sprint, he turned around to run into the staff room, the door swinging open to reveal Yangyang lounging on the sofa, trying to get a rolled up paper ball into a cup with Hyungwon. "Hey, Yang," he said with a needless amount of volume. "Your girlfriend is asking for you."

"She's back?" Hyungwon sat up straight, no longer dangling his legs off the arm of the sofa. "I thought she hadn't come for a few days."

"Since two days ago," Yangyang corrected, standing up and flicking the paper ball at the older man, grinning when it hit him between the eyes. "She's really asking for me?" 

Two fingers were stuck into Donghyuck's mouth and Yangyang gave him a disgusted look as he fake gagged - only for him to shove his fingers too far and gag in actuality. "Yeah, she did," he said between coughs, "she looks pretty rough, honestly, but you can see that for yourself."

Confused at what he meant, he followed Donghyuck out of the room and to the front, seeing a familiar coat and a familiar person stood there. Within the instant that she had seen him, her face had lit up, her free hand lifting up to wave at him; he couldn't bring himself to wave back. 

An eerie sense of deja vu made him look at her with a scrutinising gaze, mulling over her features and sighing once he realised that her lip was split in the exact same place as before. Though, unlike last time, there was more injuries literally across her countenance. A cut just above her eyebrows had scabbed over with long scratch along the bridge of her nose only adding to the 'rough' image Donghyuck had described. 

But the worst part had to be the brace that wound around her wrist, her fingers poking out of the ends, yet he doubted it was comfortable at all to use. 

She must have caught his gaze on her hand because her smile was now sheepish, a little more shy. "Hey, Yang. I'll explain later, okay?"

Figuring it wasn't worth it to argue, he simply agreed. "What's up?" He said, using an easy going tone to make her feel less judged. "You asked for me?"

"Yeah, I... I wanted to ask what time you finished today?"

The words took a few seconds to register and he felt a little, lets say, weak at the knees. But, the excitement died quickly when he realised that he had the late shift today. "Oh, I'll be finishing at like 10 today."

"That's okay. I wanted to walk you home actually, I don't mind waiting a few hours.” He barely noticed that she was waiting anxiously for his reply, instead too busy with his own scattered thoughts and feelings - the most prominent one being flattered and the runner up being thrilled (there was also something that whispered in the tiniest of voices that it was also very romantic, but he squashed that thought as soon as it had reared its head).

“O-oh, you don’t?” He said, getting tongue tied as he looked quickly at the clock, wishing that the universe would expand a little faster. “I’d really like that.”

“Great, I’ll come back 10 minutes before your shift ends?” Nodding enthusiastically, he watched her leave and head down the road, disappearing around a bend despite him continuing to watch where he’d seen her last before turning around. “Guess what?!”

Donghyuck was already staring at him. As well as Hyungwon. Obviously. 

“Wow,” Hyungwon said, “Yang-ah is getting romanced.” 

“Fuck off, hyung.”

“Ooh, feisty,” Hyuck laughed before proceeding to make silly kissing noises, both men practically weeing themselves at Hyuck’s stupid faces. “Don’t worry, lover boy. It’ll be ten in like 3 hours.”

No matter how irritating Donghyuck was trying to be, Yangyang’s joy couldn’t have been dampened by anything at all. Not even the prospect of having to wait around for another couple of hours was bothersome when the means justified the end. “Don’t you have customers to get back to?” And like clockwork, the bell jingled and Donghyuck gave him a dirty look as though he had summoned them. “That’s what I thought.”

Hyungwon, however, lingered around after he'd left for the till. "She's always coming in a little hurt," he stated, though there wasn't any malice behind it, "you should try to make sure that she's safe. Just ask her if she's okay. Maybe she's just clumsy or whatever, but it doesn't hurt to ask."

Agreeing wholeheartedly, Yangyang nodded. "I'll do that, thanks Hyung."

And just like that, the next few hours whizzed by (though he did spent a majority of it complaining how time was crawling to whoever was unfortunate enough to be around him). The light outside was scarce but, for once, Yangyang didn't pay it any mind. Really, he welcomed it this time because it meant she would be coming back any second. 

She had come in while he was sweeping up the floor and gathering everything in the dustpan, the sign switched to closed despite them technically being open for another ten minutes.

Prepared to argue with another customer that apparently couldn't read, Yangyang had looked up and stopped, the broom handle pointing awkwardly at the closed sign.

"Shit, do you want me to wait outside for you?" 

"It's fine," he said quickly, shoving the rest of the crumbs into the dustpan. "I just thought you were another customer."

"People seriously come in now?" 

"Yeah. It's annoying as hell, especially when we just started to sweep." Straightening up, he put the broom back in its place and emptied the pan, yelling to Hyungwon and Donghyuck that he was leaving and that he'd done most of the closing duties. "You wanna go now?"

"If you're ready." 

Like every other day, the night sky was thick, casting the world below in a haze of onyx fog. The only lights, save from the odd few lamp posts, was coming from the moon and stars, moonlight filtering down and dispersing over the asphalt and concrete like glitter. 

"You know-" Pausing, he stole yet another glance at her cast. "You said you'd tell me what happened to your hand?"

Had he not already been looking at her hand he wouldn't have noticed that she pulled it further into her coat sleeve, trying to conceal it. "I got pushed into a wall at an awkward angle. It's just a sprain that'll heal in a week."

His gut told him that she wasn't saying it all, but he ignored it. If she wanted to tell him, she would have. "Oh... Try not to get pushed into anything else then."

They continued to walk down the roads, only the occasional sound of a far away car creating any noise. Walking side by side on the narrow pavement meant it was only a matter of time before their hands brushed, the tingle making him gasp inaudibly, the cold air stinging the back of his throat. However, she barely seemed to blink at it, not moving her hand nor making any expression.

"Is the coffee shop your only job?" 

Not expecting her to make any conversation, he nodded quickly before speaking would be better. "It is. I picked it up because I needed money to pay for uni and it stuck."

"It's a nice place. Your coworkers seem nice too." At this, he couldn't stop himself from snorting.

"Nice enough, yeah. They're all fucking evil." He inhaled, cold air once again making his throat dry."Have you ever thought about going to university?" Yangyang questioned, genuinely curious. However, instead of a simple 'yes' or 'no' with a potential elaboration, he heard her laugh instead.

"Yang," she said, fingers brushing accidentally against his hand again, "I have a degree."

His mouth hung open, the tingling under his skin forgotten momentarily as he stared at her. "You're lying," he spluttered, unable to believe it.

"I promise I have better things to lie about." He resisted the urge to grab her by the shoulder and shake her, instead letting his hand graze hers again. "A degree in organic chemistry, to be exact."

"That sounds fucking hard."

Under the dim light, her smile seemed to glow just that much more. "That's because it was. Hell, but worth it, I guess."

Nodding dumbly, he tried not to think about how embarrassing that was lest he give in to the urge to run away from her. "Did you have a job you were thinking of with that? Or was it an interest?"

"I thought of being a forensic analyst actually." The question of 'why didn't you pursue it?' lay on the tip of his tongue, itching to make it past his lips. "But right now, I don't think I'd be able to have such a career. How about you?"

"I'm taking a gap year from uni, actually." Yangyang shrugged, fingers curling into fists before he shoved it into his jacket pocket - not wanting to think about her warmth that permeated through with every subtle touch. "I couldn't be bothered with, like, I guess the stress of it all right now. I just figured getting some money and making friends would make it easier."

Her hum of acknowledgment was soft, almost melting into the sounds of the wind that rushed past his ears. "What did you want to do?"

"Linguistics. I really like learning new languages and translation."

"Linguistics," she repeated, nodding in approval. "That's a nice choice. I'm sure you'll do well when you go back."

"I hope so, my mama might shout at me otherwise." That earned a laugh from her and his chest felt like it was being squeezed, a goofy grin working its way onto his lips. Thank god his flat building was in sight now. "We're here."

Eyes following his line of sight, she looked at the building he was referring to. It was a nice and modern styled complex, with many flats having large balconies and floor to ceiling glass windows to let in all the light possible. "Ah okay. I'll see you, then.'

He didn't want her to leave just yet. Every time he saw her walk away he'd always resisted the urge to tell her to stay, to ask her to speak with him a while more. But now he had an excuse to spend a little extra time with her. Besides, mama had always told him to be polite and invite people over for food if they have helped you. 

"Are you free now?" She spoke a mild 'yes' as she moved her hand to her own coat pocket again. "Would you like to come in?" Upon seeing endless hues meet his, he panicked, mouth moving faster than his brain. "Only if you want to though! I get it if you, like, don't want to or anything, pinkie promise." He almost raised his hand to show his little finger, only stopping when he realised he was being silly. 

Mirth shone within the eyes he was avoiding looking into, unable to see that she had also raised her own pinkie before dropping it too. "Do I get to meet emperor Louis?" 

"Yeah. It's around his feeding time anyway."

"Then of course."

It didn’t take much longer for them to reach his place, the two flights of stairs easily bypassed in a comfortable silence. Unlocking the door, he took off his shoes and jacket to look around, trying to see where Louis was hiding. “Hey, Louis,” he said, “Louis, don’t you want dinner?”

Louis was out like a bullet, running out from behind the sofa to meow at his feet like he had been starved for the past 5 years and only now had been graced with the mention of food. 

“He must really like dinner,” she said, appearing behind him and looking at the cat that was pawing at his trouser leg. “So cute. He’s a lot bigger than he seems in pictures.”

“Is he? I never noticed.” Leaning down to pet him for a moment, he stood straight again. “Would you like anything to drink?”

“Do you have hot chocolate?” She joked, focused on Louis as he sat down with his legs under his body, resembling a furry loaf. “Just cold water is okay, I’m not that hungry.”

“Feel free to sit down.”

Heading into the kitchen, he opened the cabinets to try and find some of the tea cakes he’d bought just in case he had guests over (again, yet another thing that both his mother and his friend Kun had drilled into him), and while he was rummaging around, he could faintly hear her speak again.

“Louis,” she had said, Yangyang’s foraging paused for a moment so he could hear better. “Is it okay if I pet you?” 

A meow followed her question, a muted gasp of triumph telling him that she had gotten what she wanted. “Aw, you’re such a sweet kitty.”

Yes he had heard his friends coo over Louis before, especially because he was a cute cat and could be very cuddly when he wanted to be, but there was something within the hushed words meant for only hers and Louis’ ears that made his stomach feel like it was on a rollercoaster - going up and up the steep slope before the eventual heart stopping drop. 

‘Stop being weird,’ he chided, eventually finding the cakes in the back - thankfully still in date. The murmurs of her one sided conversation created a pleasant backdrop of noise, the cakes and some other cupcakes he had from the shop arranged neatly on a plate. 

His footsteps barely made any noise as he walked over his kitchen floor, looking through the doorway to see that she was holding Louis’ paw in her braced hand as he leant into her touch, allowing her to pet him under his chin. Yangyang had never seen such a bright smile on her face before and he nearly felt a little envious before shaking his head to get rid of the thought; he really needed to stop getting jealous due to a cat.

“He’s such a traitor,” Yangyang huffed melodramatically, the tray set down on the coffee table with a ‘clink’. “When I first got him, he ran from me for like a week and only came out for food.”

“Guess I’m a pussy magnet.” A cheshire like grin made her lips curl upwards, though he couldn’t dwell on it for too long before she was back to melting over Louis. “I’m surprised he’s letting me pet him, honestly.”

“As long as you’re not me, he doesn’t care.” He found the sight adorable, barely fussed that his cat supposedly liked her more than his own owner. "You can just move him and make room for yourself. He's a sofa hog too."

Doing as he said, she gently picked him up and moved him aside, Louis now settled snuggly between them both. "You have a nice place. It's very homely." Her eyes flickered over the various frames he had up, ones that depicted his family as well as his friends. "I like it, it has your vibe to it."

"You think so?" He reached out for the tray, offering her a cupcake that she took. "My parents helped me pay for this. They offered to do it all, but I wanted to do it myself."

Frosting was licked from her lips. "It feels more rewarding when you do it yourself. My parents wanted me to stay close for university, but I decided to come here instead."

"Have you spoken to them?"

"Not for a while."

Yangyang thought it best to drop the topic.

Nonetheless, she took it in her stride, biting into the cupcake and directing the conversation back over to him. "Tell me the worst thing a customer has ever done?"

"Shit, that's a hard question," he mused, lips parting in a soft 'aha!' a moment later, "it had to be when a customer came in and asked if they could use the restroom. Normally we don't let anyone in the back, but he looked like he was ready to burst."

"I'm guessing that was a mistake." He nodded solemnly, shaking his head as he remembered the dead silence in the shop as everyone busied themselves.

"Biggest mistake ever. The dude literally like, shit everywhere! It was insane, like something out of a horror movie, I swear." The theatrical retelling was dramatic, though hardly inaccurate. No one wanted to go in and clean it up. If it wasn't in their contract, it wasn't their issue. 

"Fucking hell. I feel sorry for whoever cleaned it up."

"Don't be. The manager cleaned it up." The conversation flowed naturally after that. 

Minutes slipped away from his grasp, spilling between his fingers like grain of sand and, before he knew it, the tray's contents had become scarce.

Putting down the now empty glass, she stretched a little as she stood up. “I should go home now.”

A glance towards the clock told him exactly why; it was 11:30pm already. 

“Can you get home safe now? It’s a little dark.”

“I will. Don’t worry.” But of course he would worry. The thought echoed in his head, never to be verbalised.

Even so, by the time she put her shoes back on and shrugged on her coat, he had unlocked the door. “Don’t miss me too much.” 

“I’ll see about that.” The blush crawled up his neck, but he stood in his place in the doorway until she had disappeared down the stairs, turning around to a seemingly judgemental look from his pampered pet. “What? Don’t stare at me like that.”

Louis was simply above replying, licking his paw to amplify this case. 

The barest hint of her perfume lingered in the hallway, a smell that wasn’t too intrusive to begin with though easy to remember. Hopefully, it would remain for a little while longer.

“She’s so nice, right? Even you seem to think so.” He carried on, sitting back down on the sofa and picking up Louis to put him on his lap. “I’m pretty sure I like her.” Louis paused, staring at him before returning to his job. “...Yeah, fine. I do. Now don’t give me that nasty look.”

Though, that was clearly never going to happen; Louis was a cat too intuitive for his own good while Yangyang could only hope to possess the same quality (though possibly, he didn’t want to dwell in his own thoughts for who knew what he would find should he look hard enough. For now, a simple ‘like’ was enough.). 

Typically the time that he would go grocery shopping was around noon, when he could still walk around without having to worry about the sun setting on him. Alas, he wasn't so lucky today and by the time he was free, the sun had already been replaced by the moon. 

With one earphone in his ear playing loud music, he sped up a little more to get down the road. The walk there always seemed so much longer whenever light was scarce, apparently hours long when it only took him 20 minutes maximum. 

Nonetheless, pretty much all he could do was grit his teeth and carry on walking unless he wanted to survive off of biscuits for the next few days. 

Most of the usual sounds of the night were drowned out, ignored and filtered out as white noise. He was only really focused on the music, so much so that he didn't notice the sound of a motorcycle until it was almost directly beside him. 

"-Yang." Stopping in his tracks, he looked at the roadside and saw someone on a motorbike, the engine still running as they stood stationary. "Where are you going?"

"...Sorry?" A little confused at who it was, he stopped the music and narrowed his eyes, staring at them. "Who are you?"

The helmet was lifted off and he was somehow surprised to see that it was her. "My bad. I should've said it was me. Where are you going now?"

"Just to buy some groceries." He shrugged, eyes grazing over the machine in front of him.

Her motorcycle looked like something out of his vehicle fetish dreams, the sleek black paint and stunning metal work putting the horizon to shame. "You have a really nice bike."

"Thank you, she's my pride." She patted the seat behind her. "I'll drive you to the store, walking around in the dark isn't safe. There's a spare helmet in the storage."

He had to admit, the prospect of being able to ride on such a sleek ride was appealing. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

Opening the lock at the back, he took out the helmet, seeing nothing much else aside from a few brown envelopes and twine. It didn't interest him so he locked it quickly, about to put the helmet on when he felt a tug on his jacket.

Yangyang remained silent as she tugged him towards her, the helmet taken from his grasp as she smoothed his hair down - the breath leaving his lungs. "You can get a bad case of helmet hair if you don't put it on properly. I'm sure you spent hours on your look this morning." They both obviously knew that was a lie; he'd barely ran a brush through it when he woke up. 

It slipped easily over his head, a little heavy on his neck but nothing he couldn't deal with. 

"It's the one close to here, right?" He spoke a 'yes' but the helmet muffled it, leaving him to nod instead. "Okay, hold on tight."

The engine rumbled them both, the soft purr of it immensely pleasing. It was clearly a very expensive bike that she was taking good care of. 

His arms wrapped around her waist, perhaps a little too loosely given the speed that she had decided to use. The revving was loud before they shot off, the wind making his jacket flutter, his arms tightening a little more. 

The world blurred around them, the other cars on the road passed by within the blink of an eye. Traffic lights blended together and he couldn't tell if she had run the red light or not (since no light had flashes, he assumed the latter), but the sensation was nothing if not freeing.

The cold didn't bother him so much, her body blocking most of it from reaching him. It was easy to see why people loved taking long rides on the back of a motorbike; it was nothing if not soothing. 

Everything felt insignificant for those few minutes, the only things in existence being her pulse that thrummed under his hands and his own being. He only wished that he could have felt the wind in his hair instead, but he would rather guarantee his safety.

Only 3 or 4 minutes later, they were outside the store, the sign glowing against the dark backdrop. She parked the bike near the front, keys shoved into her pocket as she got off, Yangyang following after. 

"How was that?" She asked, putting the helmets back in the storage box as he focused on recovering from the head rush. "Have you ever been on a motorbike before?"

"Not really. Only when I was a lot younger, but I barely remember that," he said, eyebrows furrowing, "you coming in?"

"Just to give you company. I'll take you home."

The fluttering sensation returned - this time stronger, more powerful in its intent and delivery. He was grateful the lack of light hid how his cheeks blossomed in a faint berry undercurrent. "You don't have to."

"I know. But I want to."

He really wasn't going to argue with such a kind offer. 

The inside of the store was a lot brighter than the outside, the phosphorescent lights casting a white, nearly sterile sheen over the aisles and food. Picking up a basket, he went to the pet food aisle and went straight for the normal kind Louis ate, hand hovering over the treats. 

"You should get it. He deserves them," she piped, taking them off the shelf for him and putting it in. 

"You sound like Louis."

Tapping her temple, she chuckled. "We're connected."

"Sorry, guess I forgot that." It was always tempting to splurge on the cat, but he knew that Louis liked to lounge around for most of his day and it wouldn't be good to continuously feed him high fat foods. So it was with great reluctance that he left that aisle. 

"You gonna eat cat food?" He noticed how she was speaking to him with more friendliness, each word jovial and teasing. "You should go this way instead of to the pet toys, unless you want a fake mouse to chew on." A hand on her back steered him towards the 'human' food.

"That just shows you've never chewed on a cat toy, they're pretty fun... Not that I personally know what that's like," He added quickly and she laughed, hand moving to the curve of his back before dropping, the skin under her touch tingling.

"I'll put that on my bucket list then."

Yangyang had to admit that his eating habits were terrible. He preferred convenience over nutrition and it didn't bother him what he ate; if it filled him up, then it had done its job. Clearly she didn't share the same sentiment, giving him an odd look as he picked up yet another 5 pack of noodles.

"Can you cook?" She asked, following behind him as she looked at the ingredients for what he'd put in his basket. 

"Some things. I mostly ask my friend Kun-ge to send me recipes and I copy them. I don’t know if you can call that like, proper cooking.”

“Still something. Do you like sweeter or savoury things?”

Not paying much mind to her questions, he moved down the aisles. “I like both, but savoury more cuz it doesn’t get sickly. What’s your favourite snack?”

She caught up to him, once again walking at his side as they moved over to the non-perishable foods aisle. “Probably chocolate, but not dark chocolate. That shit is gross.”

A smile crept up onto his lips. “Agreed.”

Yangyang stood in front of the pasta, deciding on whether he should get the wide noodle-like ones or the ones that resembled a seashell. "I'll be back in a bit, I think I'll get some things too." 

He hummed in acknowledgement, taking the seashells for some variety and turning around to see the aisle empty.

She disappeared, reappearing minutes later with her own basket that had a variety of greens and food. 

"Damn, you're healthy," he whistled, seeing the fruits that were hidden at the bottom, buried under the green onions and tofu.

"This thing won't heal if I'm not." The fingers in the brace wiggled in a wave. "You done?"

"Pretty much. Do you need anything?"

"Nope. Let's go then."

She put down her things first, arranging them neatly on the belt and helping Yangyang after, placing a divider between their things. 

The cashier had already started scanning her items as a gasp left her lips. “Could you get me some soy sauce, please? I forgot to pick it up.” 

Yangyang nodded, his stuff was after hers anyway and he would be quick. He moved back along the aisles, looking around to try and see where they were and what brand she would want. The amount of time he took could have easily been attributed to his indecisiveness, a minute, maybe two, wasted by him just looking at the selection. In the end, he picked up his own favourite kind and walked back.

Though, when he did return, the scene wasn’t the same as he’d left it. The belt had been cleared, everything packed away into reusable bags that she was holding in both hands. The realisation came quick and he didn’t know how to feel when she walked towards him, giving him a handful of bags. “Did you pay for it all?”

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

She looked a little confused at his question. “Because I wanted to…?”

“You didn’t need to. I could have paid.” He couldn’t bring himself to be even a little bit upset, knowing she meant well. They _were_ friends after all. “But thank you. I really appreciate it.”

"You're welcome." Starting to walk outside, she was stopped when he grabbed her sleeve, shuffling the bags back over to her. "What's wrong?"

"Could you put these on the bike? I need to get something else quickly." Not bothering to ask questions, she nodded and left the shop, the electronic 'ding' going off. He peered through the window, seeing her saddle the bags on the back, and made his move. 

Yangyang was a man on a mission, a mission to try to somehow repay her kindness through emptying the stock of whatever chocolate the store had to offer. 

Picking up at least one bar of whatever was on display, he ended up with around a good 15 different varieties before deciding he didn't particularly want to rot her teeth out of her mouth. He also decided to humbly ignore the odd look the cashier gave him as he dropped the aisle's worth of sweets on the belt, only smiling toothily as a half arsed explanation. 

Nonetheless, he walked out with his own bag and handed it to her, closing the handle within her palm and curling her fingers over it. “What is it?”

“Chocolate.”

The bag was lifted onto her lap so she could look inside. “This much?”

“You paid for all my groceries, some more chocolate than usual won’t kill you.” She didn’t protest and he sat himself on the back of the bike, smoothing his hair like she had done earlier and putting on the helmet. 

After checking that he was okay, they were off again, the same exhilarating speed from before used. His hold was slightly tighter than before, but he blamed it on not wanting it to end (instead deliberately ignoring how he really liked being so close that he could almost feel her heartbeat).

He looked up towards the sky this time, looking at how the individual stars blended together, creating swirling patterns before scattering across the expanse of the night. Yangyang never really had the opportunity to stop and admire them, always focused on getting to his destination and back. Now he had all the time in the world, the warmth from her body mixing with his own, the fuzzy feeling blossoming from his chest and spreading to the tip of his fingers and toes - his gaze tinting the world rose with the galaxy settling within him.

6 minutes later he was home again. All the bags were now taken off the back and placed at his feet, the engine still on and humming as she smoothed her clothes to leave again.

"Wait!" She set a foot down, the bike stationary. "One thing before you go-" Reaching into his pocket, he brought out his phone and held it out towards her. "Could I have your number?"

She took it with no hesitation, filling in her number and saving the contact as her name with a blue heart beside it. "Will you be okay carrying them up?"

He nodded, holding his phone tightly as the stars shifted inside of him to form new constellations, creating new clusters with every rapid beat of his heart. "I'll take the elevator."

The engine revved and she was gone within seconds, the chill from the night air starting to get through his clothes before he pocketed his phone and picked up all the bags - including the ones that she had 'bought for herself'.

* * *

"Louis, I'm bored," he huffed, scratching the purring cat under his chin. Every minute that he spent scrolling through the selection on Netflix felt more fruitless and pointless by the second. Nothing was interesting at all and he didn't feel like rewatching things either. “Tell me what I should do.”

Louis, in his true helpful fashion, didn’t even open his eyes. 

“Thanks.” Tossing the remote, he decided to go on his phone instead - when one big screen wasn’t entertaining, maybe the smaller one would be. Or so he thought (hoped, even). 

Instagram was useless, showing him the same pictures of Ten that he had seen yesterday over 5 separate times, and even Tiktok seemed dull and dry. That unhappiness with everything he was seeing was what led him to his messages, hoving over the name with the blue heart. His intention wasn’t to text her actually, but to call and see if she wanted to come over.

“Psst, Lou. Shall I call her?” 

“Yes,” Louis responded to him in his mind’s eye, “fucking call her and leave me alone.”

The phone rang one, twice and then a third time before being picked up, though it wasn’t with a ‘hello’ like he was expecting. Rustling noises greeted him even after he said hello and he wondered if she had just decided to mess with him for fun, but that thought was promptly buried when the ear splitting sound of gunshots carried through the speaker. 

“The fuck?” Tapping on the screen showed that he wasn’t accidentally playing a video in the background and his TV had been turned off about 5 minutes prior, “hello?”

A loud BANG! reverberated through the phone again, closer than the last one had been and he was genuinely confused, simply looking at the calling screen and trying to figure out what was going on. The more he listened, the more he could make out the sound of her voice, though it was nothing like what he normally heard. Instead of the welcoming and kind tone she had, there was anger and there was rage, her words spat out with poison dripping from the ends of each faintly audible syllable. It was completely jarring to hear, more so than the gunshot that had originally startled him.

Yangyang ended the call. Trying to rationalise whatever he had heard seemed like a task too daunting right now and he couldn’t bring himself to try and decipher it either.

Instead, he thought leaving a quick message would be easier.

Yangyang: Call me back when u can 🤣

And when she could was apparently hours later - around the time he had completely forgotten about calling her and was more focused on trying to find wind the puddle of yarn back into an actual ball shape. His thumb had turned into a big ball of red, the string going over his legs and the arm of the couch when his phone rang again. Naturally, his instinct was to ignore it; of course it was. He was in the middle of a very important operation that required high levels of concentration, but when his phone rang for a solid 5 more seconds, he opted for awkwardly reaching over and picking it up to position on his shoulder. 

"Hi," she spoke, voice coming through in beats, her words almost breathless. "Did you need something?"

Suddenly he wondered if he should have just scrapped his idea all together. Would she even want to come over? Especially when she sounded so tired? Not to mention what he had heard over the call earlier...

He chewed on his cheek, about to tell her it was nothing when he felt Louis bump his chin, trying to bat at the blob on his finger. "...Louis misses you." He blurted out, moving it away so the cat couldn't reach.

This time, the words were clearer and there was less noise pollution, though she still sounded out of breath. "And he told you that, did he?" 

"Duh. He tells me everything." That was a bold faced lie; Louis wouldn't tell him shit. "Do you want to come over so he stops trying to make confetti out of me?" 

Low laughter came through. “Is it only Louis that wants me to come over?”

“...Maybe me too, but I never said that.”

“Of course not.”

“So will you?”

“Hm, check your front door in 20 minutes, that should give you your answer.” She ended the call unexpectedly, the ending tone playing in his ear and he felt his stomach flip. She’d not played him before, so hopefully she didn’t ‘stand him up’ now.

The next twenty minutes dragged on for an eternity, his body aging a year for each minute that she took to come over. He swore he saw the sky change colours over 5 different times: blue, white, grey, people and then blue again. Or maybe he was going crazy from boredom - the latter seemed more likely.

Through when his doorbell finally did ring, the sky remained a vibrant bright azure. Almost tripping over his own feet to answer, he pulled it open with a grin that nearly split his cheeks. 

"Hi!" He said, almost a little too loudly.

"Hey." Her aura was golden, a bright colour that bathed him in security. "You seem happy, were you expecting someone else?"

"Maybe, but you're fine too."

At this, she sighed, shaking her head solemnly. "At least Louis appreciates me."

The heavy scent of smoke followed her in, the urge to cough making the back of his throat itch. Clearing his throat only made it subside slightly. The coat she’d put up was the part that had the most pungent smell, the tinge of her perfume masked almost entirely by it. “Do you smoke?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking. “You smell a lot like cigarettes.”

“No, I don’t.” She looked apologetic, lingering in the corridor instead of walking into his living room with him. “Sorry, I was around a lot of fire before I came here. The smell really does cling onto your clothes.”

While he gestured for her to come forwards, he felt Louis brush past his legs to go to her, meowing at her feet. “Fire? What were you doing, committing arson?” 

“That would be fun, but no.” The expected elaboration never came and he felt a little awkward standing there without anything to fill the silence. “Do you want anything to eat? I made food today, one of Kun-ge’s favourite recipes.”

“I’m not going to turn down free food.” The awkward feeling dissipated as soon as she smiled, her formal blank expression that was reserved for strangers and acquaintances melting away to reveal the softer, more intimate side that he was fond of. “What did you make?”

“Vegetable stir fry, is that okay?”

“That sounds good as fuck.” Standing up, she tried to shoo away Louis but he was adamant on being beside her, getting on his hind legs and meowing louder. “What’s wrong?”

“Yeah, he wants you to hold him.”

“Ah, come here then, kitty.” Not hesitating to pick him up, she was all too delighted to cradle Louis like a newborn. "I see what you mean now about him being talkative when you need to do something."

"He's just a big baby." Yangyang rolled his eyes, though the smile remained on his lips. 

She followed behind him into the kitchen, looking around at the way he had decorated it and the different pans he had out. It wasn't anything overly fancy: best described as homely, really.

"Have you eaten yet?" 

"I was going to, I'll eat with you."

He took out two of his nicer bowls, opening the lid to the still warm pan. 

"You wanna try some now?" She nodded and it was only after he had filled up a spoon that he remembered her arms were full, and Louis didn't seem like he particularly wanted to leave anytime soon. 

His fingers tightened around the handle, freezing for a moment as he thought about what to do. Would feeding it to her be too weird? Too forward?

He held his breath, trying to stop himself from over thinking by holding it out towards her. Thankfully, she seemed to take the hint, moving closer so she could eat it.

She didn't act awkward or weird about it, complimenting him instead. "It's really good, your ge is making a chef out of you."

And he exhaled, lungs feeling lighter instantly. 

Filling up two separate bowls, he put some steamed broccoli aside for Louis. If he wanted to join them, then he had to be a little healthy. "This was a new one that he sent, usually he sends me, like, really easy ones, but when I said I had more shit in my fridge than usual-" he aimed a look at her, to which she smiled sweetly. "He sent me this."

"Is he a worker at the shop? I don't think I've ever seen him "

"Nope, Kun-ge's a family friend that I've bullied into being my friend."

"Must be a pattern then."

Yangyang had the gall to look a little offended, scoffing before jokingly speeding up to get away from her. "I didn't bully you into being my friend."

"I never said it was with us." Her hand lifted to pat his cheek, like how one would to a child they adored. "I've just overheard some of your conversations; they're very... I'll call them interesting."

"Wow, much appreciated."

Setting the bowls down, he went back to get two glasses of water and put them down on the table, both of them opting to sit on the floor to eat. 

The conversation didn't feel forced, not did he feel like he had to fill any of the silences either. All that needed to be said was conveyed through the clinking of spoons against ceramic, was displayed through the way their thighs brushed against each other whenever one of them shifted even a little, was said through the little hums of approval whenever they had a bite of something they particularly liked.

It was serenity in its purest form and he found solace within her movements, his lips almost permanently curled upwards into a smile. 

Though, what they both failed to notice was Louis pawing at the table before jumping on, his paws accidentally hitting her drink. 

The glass tipped over the edge, water pouring onto her lap while Louis' eyes round with innocence, his tail swaying happily behind him. 

The box of tissues barely did anything to help the mess on her legs, though she wiped up the table to stop it from dripping further. 

"I'll clean it up," he reassured, moving Louis aside so he could wipe the whole thing. "I don't know why he did that."

"It's okay, cats will be cats. Could I use your bathroom?"

Tutting, Yangyang scolded him in chinese and picked up the fallen glass, most of the water having soaked into her trousers instead of the rug under them. "It's the second door in the passageway."

"Thanks." 

As soon as she was out of earshot, he shook his head, directing another disappointed look at Louis. "Come on, you know not to shove things off of tables." To his credit, the feline seemed a little apologetic, his ears flattening slightly against his head. "Say sorry when she comes out and I'm sure she'll forgive you."

Yangyang only shook his head, going back to his food as the door locked in the background. 

And of course, he only managed a maximum of three bites before a thud echoed around the flat, his head craning to see where it had come from. Her coat had slipped from the peg and landed in a pile on the floor, though that didn't really explain why it was that loud. 

He shoved another spoonful of food into his mouth before getting up, heading to the hallway to pick it up. Most of the smoke scent had dissipated and left, leaving behind a fainter stench that was a lot more manageable. 

Not a second thought went through his head when he picked it up, hooking it onto the hanger, not until he looked at the floor and saw a package on the floor. It had to have been what made the noise. 

His only intention when reaching out for it was to put it back in her pocket, but the unexpected weight of it had him second guessing what he was supposed to do with it. Clearly it was none of his business, but he still held it, staring hard at the brown packaging paper that covered every inch, the same thick string he had seen in her motorcycle storage wrapping around it. 

He moved his hand, black soot coating his fingers. What the hell was in this thing?

He would never get the answers for this, the parcel taken out of his grip before he could think to hold it. 

"What are you doing?" She asked, the tone making him feel cold - a chilling breeze making the hair on the nape of his neck rise. 

"I just- your coat fell and I went to pick it up." Even though he was telling the truth, the sinking feeling of knowing she didn't believe him made his gut twist uncomfortably. "I'm sorry."

The few seconds where she did nothing but look into his eyes felt like hours, the emotion wiped clean off her visage. The parcel was clutched tighter, the same black soot transferring to her fingers. 

"I can... Let me get you a tissue-"

"It's fine." She reached out for her coat, shoving the package into her pocket and shrugging it on, the clothing concealing her again - hiding her from his view. "Thank you for the food, but I have to go."

"Huh? What do you mean?" 

"I'm leaving." 

The speed in which his heart fell to his stomach was awful, lead settling within him. 

She was already walking towards the door, using the keys to unlock it when he reached out to grab her hand, the black creating streaks on her skin. "Wait! I swear I wasn't trying to snoop! It fell from your pocket, I know it looked like I was, but I wasn't." 

The tight lipped grimace she gave him told him exactly what she thought of his words, her hand pulled away from his own as she haphazardly shoved her shoes on. "Tell Louis I said bye."

His throat felt like it was closing up as she opened up the door, walking out of the flat without sparing him another glance. Yet, when he snapped out of whatever trance he was in and rushed to the door, she had already left. There was no trace of her aside from the lingering aroma of her perfume and fire.

Yangyang felt sick. 

Reaching for his phone, he texted the first person he could think of, the contact second on his phone. 

Yangyang: ge

Yangyang: I think she hates me 😞

Ten: ? Did u annoy her or what

Yangyang: No

Yangyang: I picked up her coat cuz it fell and there was a parcel that came out of her pocket 

Ten: wow ... 🙄

Yangyang: Let me finish 🙄

Yangyang: It had black shit on the bottom of it. Kinda like dirt actually. 

Yangyang: She seemed really angry that i was holding it and left

Yangyang: She didn't even listen to me explain :(

Ten: first of all, she doesn't hate u

Ten: 2nd of all. Is she a drug dealer 🤣

Yangyang: 😐 funny.

Ten: I'm serious

Ten: you have to admit, she's a little sus and who knows what was in that parcel

Ten: what was it wrapped in ?

Yangyang: brown paper ??? What does that have to do with anything

Ten: I can't believe you've fallen in love with a drug dealer 🤡🤡🤡

Yangyang: 🙄 shes not a drug dealer. She doesn't even smoke

Ten: you don't need to smoke to distribute

The ridiculousness of the conversation made him laugh out loud, though he couldn't distinguish if it was from humour or despair. 

Ten: I'm just kidding

Ten: but it must have been important if she was that annoyed over it. I'm sure she'll speak to you again soon

Ten: don't think too much about it, baby

Ten: never thought I'd see the day where you were sending frowny faces over a girl 😭 they grow up so fast

Yangyang: yeah. Bye now 👍🏼

Yangyang: (but thank you)

Ten: 😊

All he could do was hope it would blow over soon.

* * *

Days went by where there was no trace of her could be found. Every call he sent went straight to voicemail and all his texts were unread. No one at the shop had seen her for over a week either and it was safe to say that he was worried sick. Realistically, he knew that he likely didn’t have anything to do with the sudden disappearance, but the anxiety that plagued him whispered that he was at fault, that if he hadn’t touched her things then she would have replied to him by now.

Yangyang: Are you okay?

Yangyang: I haven’t seen you for a while

Yangyang: if you can, plz respond

Yangyang: I’ll even send you lots of pictures of Louis

Yangyang: he misses you too :(

Multiple messages like this filled the screen, most of them left on delivered while the newer ones hadn’t even gone through. 

Putting his phone on the side, he lay down and stared up at the ceiling. He didn’t start his shift until 1pm the next day, so he could afford to lay awake for a while, but the prospect of going to work seemed less and less appealing when he had the feeling she wouldn’t show up.

He sighed again, Louis’ occasional snoring being the only thing providing any noise aside from the clock and his own echoing thoughts. 

Burying his face in his plushie and rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes to try and sleep, only the lethargy that should have knocked him clean out only mixed with unease and kept him up in a toxic state of being semi awake. 

Twenty minutes passed by like this before he sat up, sighing heavily. Sleep just didn’t seem to be written for him tod-

The doorbell rang. 

It rang once. Twice and then three, four times in rapid succession. The sound echoed through the walls and reached him loudly and obnoxiously in the bedroom. It was frantic and clearly meant to get his attention, not letting up until after he got up and left the bedroom.

‘It's probably one of the neighbours kids messing around,’ he reasoned, yawning and rubbing his eyes, they sometimes liked to be irritating and scurry around the floor to play knock-a-door run. 

So of course when he opened up the door, fuzzy eyed and dressed in baby blue pajamas, the last person he was expecting to be at the other side was her: the same person he had been losing sleep over.

All of a sudden, he was wide awake, unable to believe his own eyes as he looked at her hunched over form.

“What the fuck?” Yangyang couldn’t stop himself from raising his voice, a mixture of frustration and upset making his words harsher than he intended. “Why are you here?"

"I-i'm sorry. I got caught up in something." The vague manner she was speaking in was starting to grate on his nerves, fingers flexing on the door handle to try and calm himself down. 

She didn't look up to meet his eyes, gaze firmly on the floor in a way that was incredibly unlike her. Whenever she could, she made eye contact with him, exuding a sense of self assurance and confidence. 

The person in front of him resembled nothing of her, instead sounding smaller, more fearful. “Can I come in?”

“Will you explain what happened?” He itched to say yes and welcome her back with open arms, but something wasn’t right. “If you say yeah, then you can.”

Her exhale was sharp, teeth almost grinding against each other. “You-” she sighed, air whistling as she sucked in air, “Yangyang, please don’t.”

No matter how much he wanted answers, he knew full well she was stubborn and whatever she wanted to keep a secret would remain as that for as long as she saw fit.

“Okay.”

The step that she took was slow and she only hunched over further, knuckles becoming paler with how tightly she was clutching the coat. The feeling that something was terribly wrong confirmed itself in the sounds of her shallow breathing, in how she seemed to almost sway with the effort of standing up.

She was hurt; and he knew this because when she finally looked up, he saw tears in her eyes, crystalline drops clinging onto her lashes as she clenched her jaw, trying her hardest not to make a sound. They never spilled over onto her cheeks, remaining on her waterline and blurring her vision.

Whatever anger he felt was insignificant, concern weighing heavy over him as he held onto her shoulder, trying to stabilise her. "Wha- are you okay?"

"Do you... Have any bandages?" 

"Bandages?!" He repeated ludicrously. "Oh my god. Move your hand."

"No, Ya-"

Ignoring her wishes, he shoved her hand away, the coat brushing against his fingers with a heaviness that he knew wasn’t due to the coat’s natural state. His mouth turned dry as soon as he felt wetness coat them, the digits slick as he touched the spot she had been so vehemently protecting. 

Yangyang jerked his hand away, almost too scared to look down at it when he was trying to convince himself that it wasn’t what he thought it was. 

Crimson ran over his palms, staining his skin in a vivid rouge that made the bile in his stomach threatened to rise. His mouth opened and closed, words difficult to verbalise. A million thoughts ran through his head, but there may as well have been none with how little he was able to focus. “Oh god,” he muttered, voice shaking, “w-what even happened to you? Why aren’t you at the hospital?”

Her muscles were shaking, fingers trembling from exertion as she moved the coat back over her, hiding the way her shirt was soaked through. “I-They ask too many questions.”

Laughter was the response he could come up with, no mirth within the shrill sound. “So you would just rather walk around bleeding instead? Did you seriously walk up all those stairs like this?”

“...I used the lift.”

“Wow.” Even a quick look at her told him that she was getting weaker and weaker. “Fuck this. You have to go to the hospital.”

“I don’t want to, Yang-” She went silent as soon as she saw him wipe his hand on his clothing, the bloodied print streaking across his clothing. “I came here because I trust you.”

God, he didn’t know what to think. Everything in his head was screaming at him to get her into a hospital before she bled out in front of him. Each second that ticked by was counting down down that moment. "You can barely breathe."

Her fingers curled into fists, the tremours becoming more noticeable. "I know. I just-" she gulped, closing her eyes for a moment, "I just need to patch myself up and then I'll go. Your... Your place was closer."

Beyond exasperated, he didn't know what else he could say. "I’m literally gonna burst into tears if you don’t come with me to the hospital, like, right now,” he warned, deadly serious. “You’re losing so much fucking blood, you can’t tell me that you can handle this by yourself. Just ignore their questions or say you don’t remember, _please._ ” 

He didn’t bother to wait for her verbal response, the slight defeated slump of her shoulders more than enough for him to run to the bedroom and grab his phone to call up the emergency services.

Clean hand slotting into hers, all he could do was try to comfort her - inevitably bottling up all his endless questions for until after the paramedics had come and taken her into the ambulance (whom had even offered for him to come as well). 

She was wheeled away upon entry, barely able to see her wave before he was left in the waiting room to anticipate updates on her condition. The hours would undoubtedly take eons to progress with the thick scent of sanitisers and cleaning agents already starting to give him a headache. 

Really though, it was only a matter of time before he curled up in a seat, the thin, stained pajamas barely holding in any heat, and closed his eyes - falling asleep within a few minutes to the sound of low level chatter.

Had it not been for the buzzing in his pocket Yangyang would have doubted that he’d have woken up for another few hours, the message tone muffled by his clothing and the awkward position of his phone against the chair. 

Groaning from both the crick in his neck and the slight ache in his joints, he sat up straight and looked at the screen: 5:12am and 7 unread messages.

MC: I’m so sorry for bothering you

MC: Hopefully you’re home now

MC: You should go to sleep if you haven't already

MC: Thank you though, I’m really grateful that you helped me

MC: I think it would be best if you deleted my number though

MC: I’ll probably be allowed to leave by the end of today, just to let you know

MC: 💙💙💙

He narrowed his eyes and put the phone closer to his face, trying to think of a way to respond.

Yangyang: I’m still at the hospital

Yangyang: ? Why would I delete ur number?

Yangyang: What room r u in?

It took him a few moments to realise that the messages hadn’t delivered at all, all indication of the message getting through completely gone. Clearly, she had blocked him.

“Fucking hell,” He grumbled, fruitlessly smoothing his wrinkled clothing and standing up. He decided he would try and find out himself. 

Walking up to the counter, he gave a quick smile to the person behind it, asking if they knew what room she was in. 'Room 12 on the fifth floor,' they had said, looking him over, 'but visiting hours aren't until later.'

He had only smiled, saying he would be back later and thanking them for their time. Yangyang knew there was another entrance and so he had no qualms with walking out and using that one, walking up the stairs and ignoring anyone that walked down them. As long as you looked like you knew what you were doing, no one would question a thing. 

It didn't take too long for him to make his way there, though he did have to awkwardly smile at a few nurses here and there before he found the room and slinked in. However, he thought about how it was entirely plausible that she wasn't awake anymore, it had been hours since she'd sent the messages and he didn't think anyone would take kindly to being woken up at 5am. It was a necessary evil, he reassured himself, as soon as he knew she was okay, he would feel better. 

There were a few other patients in the room, all of them asleep and others hidden by curtains that wrapped around their beds. Yangyang walked past them, hoping she wasn't hiding behind any of them. 

Thankfully, the universe was on his side and he saw her coat on a chair, the back towards him. "Thank fuck I found you," he said a little too loudly, a glare burning into his back from a groggy middle aged woman. His fault. 

She had been laying on her back, looking out of the window through the small crack of the blinds, only turning around once she heard his voice - surprise clear within the dilated pupils 

“It’s not visiting hours,” she stated and he shrugged.

“You gonna snitch on me?” Silence followed. “Exactly.”

He pulled out a chair after pulling the curtains, lowering his voice so he wouldn’t be overheard by the surrounding people or the patients.

"Why are you here?" She muttered, avoiding eye contact again and his heart ached. "You should go home."

"What did they do?" Her statement was ignored, nothing of use being said to him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yangyang-"

"I'm just asking."

She huffed, attempting to sit up despite struggling a little, though she managed it by leaning against the headboard. "Yes, I'm fine. They said I could leave by the end of today if everything was normal." 

"How will you get home?"

"I'll just call a taxi."

He took a moment to look over her clothing, seeing that her shirt had been changed into a hospital gown instead. She didn't look much different aside from the obvious exhaustion that made her blinking slower. 

"You fucking got stabbed." It was a statement, no room left for an argument. "You got stabbed and you're acting like it was some kind of tiny paper cut." 

"I'll get better. It's not a big deal." 

'Are you crazy!?' He wanted to yell, staring at her as though she had suddenly sprouted multiple other limbs. "You're so fucking stubborn" was the sentence he settled on, her sideways glance making him sigh.

A foreboding feeling hung over them, the air feeling scarce as the silence dragged on. 

It continued on and on and on, until he snapped.

"Stay with me," he spoke, dark brown eyes filled with desperation scanning over her face, "stay with me for this week. Just until I know you’re a little better.”

Fingers twisted together before she picked at her nails, remaining eerily silent as he waited desperately for a reply - of which came in the form of a sigh and barely coherent mumble. "It's not worth it."

Yangyang was exasperated. Why couldn't she seem to understand that he cared about her and her well being? It was driving him to his wit's end and he was tempted to grab and shake her to try knocking some sense into her. 

"I just want to help you." He finally said, voice a mere whisper and he was the one that couldn't meet her eyes, the additional words he wanted to say dying on the tip of his tongue. "I can't do that if you never let me."

"You don't need to."

He stood up, a hand carding through his hair with the strands forming haphazard spikes, his appearance disheveled and raw. 

The bed gave way under his weight, his arms wrapping around her from the side. The bandaged area was avoided, though he still hugged her tightly despite this. Darkness was his only view as he squeezed his eyes shut, the room quiet save for their breathing and the pounding of his pulse in his ears. The stars in his galaxy were flickering, but he refused to let them fizzle out without a fight. "You don't have to tell me what happened, I won't ask ever again if you don't want me to, but please accept my help."

Fingertips grazed across his knuckles, the stars shifting from inside him to decorate his skin instead, forming wherever she traced. "I- Okay. I'll stay with you for a little while."

"Yes!" He cheered, though ducked his head when he heard a groan from the other side. "You have to unblock me though."

At this she laughed, squeezing his hand and setting the nerves aflame. "You're so demanding."

"So what?" He looked at the clock again and puffed out his cheeks. "I should go, I have a shift at 1. I'll come back at like, 7-ish?"

She managed a small smile. "Sounds good."

* * *

Yangyang: I’m almost there 😁

Yangyang: U still in the room?

MC: Not anymore

MC: I’m going down now

Yangyang: U better not walk down the stairs 😐😒

MC: I’m not that insane

MC: This lift smells like fucking toilet freshener

Yangyang: 🤣😂 L

Yangyang: better than bleach tho 🤣

MC: i almost prefer that over this lavender shit 😒😒

MC: I’ll see you in a bit

Yangyang: 👍🏼

He got out of the taxi, asking for the driver to wait for a few minutes while he went inside to get her. The shift was long and incredibly boring with the hours blurring together into an inconsequential waste of his time. Nonetheless, he supposed a week of seeing her everyday was something to look forward to.

Dressed in a simple outfit of jeans and a white shirt (a welcomed change from the bloody pajamas), he walked in and saw her sitting in one of the seats. It almost surprised him that she was still there having half expected her to have run off while he was at work, but he was just glad she didn’t bring his worries to fruition.

“Hey, you ready to go?” He asked, taking her coat so she could get up.

“Yeah, I’m sick of this place.”

“You and me both.”

She seemed a lot better than she did yesterday, no longer hunched over in pain when she walked - though there was clearly a significant difference in speed between her and Yangyang’s pace.

Slowing down a little, he matched his speed to hers and waited patiently for her to get into the taxi, not wanting to rush her in case she was injured again.

"Did they just put bandages on?"

"Stitches and bandages."

"It was that bad?" She only shrugged, giving him a wry smile that said she wouldn't be elaborating any further. 

The drive back to his place barely took any time, a maximum of 7 minutes later and they were at the flat building. 

His arm hooked with hers, the urge to slide his fingers with hers as well remaining unfulfilled. 

"I bet I could win you in a race up the stairs." He definitely deserved the dry look she gave.

He closed the door, taking off his shoes and jacket while she did the same, the infamous coat being hung up.

Noticing that the coat's interior was still caked with blood, he reached out for it. “I’ll put your coat in the wash,” he said, about to take it off the hook when she grabbed his hand.

“No, it’s fine. I need to dry clean it anyway, I’ll take it when I go home.” He’d learnt by now to not interfere with anything to do with her coat and so he left it.

Moving his hand back, he absentmindedly ran his fingers across where she’d touched. “You wanna eat anything? Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to make anything like, homemade, but I have cake from the shop.”

“Which kind?”

“Red velvet.”

“Deal, but only if we share.”

“Deal. Pleasure doing business with you.” She rolled her eyes at that one, stopping moments after spotting Louis, who was now awake, on the sofa and jogging over. “Wow, you really love him more than me.”

She paused, fingers still in Louis’ fur though not moving as she looked him in the eyes, the meters of space between them suddenly feeling miniscule. “Make me love you more than him.”

He couldn’t tell if there was a challenge staring back at him or if he was hallucinating something that he wanted to see. Ultimately, he didn’t figure it out.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said finally, turning away to soothe the burn in his cheeks and the faint feeling of deja vu. 

The background sound of her playing with Louis reminded him a lot of the last time she was here, right down to him putting cake on plates to give. History did have a tendency of repeating itself, he supposed.

"How come you always have cake at home? Last time you offered me some too."

“They just give us the cakes and stuff that didn’t sell the past two days,” he explained, sitting down on the sofa with her, the clock striking 8:30pm. “I always end up with cupcakes and shit in my fridge after like 3 shifts.”

She hummed, eating it happily and feeding Louis a small amount of buttercream since he was nosing around. “It’s a little funny that we’re eating this now, like a blast from the past.”

He nodded, the cake disappearing rapidly with how quickly he was inhaling it. “I still think about when you told off that lady,” he said, laughing a little as he tapped his fork against the plate, “the look on her face was the funniest thing ever.”

“You think?” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “She annoyed me. People who are rude to workers are bottom tier.”

“Agreed. I’m just not supposed to say anything back.”

“I’m sure she would have pissed herself if you said something.”

Louis meowed, as if partaking in the conversation and it made them both giggle like little children, especially when he moseyed over to Yangyang’s plate and stuck his face into the buttercream he’d put aside. “Ugh, Lou-” The cat lifted his head, revealing how his nose was covered in the white. “Spoiled bastard.”

“Good for him, he’s got the entrepreneurial spirit - saw an opportunity and took it.”

The low level chatter continued for a while more until their plates were completely clean and any hunger had been sufficiently suppressed by sugar. He saw her stifle a yawn and thought that it was best that they went to sleep soon considering he, himself was feeling sluggish.

Taking their plates, he put them in the sink and leant against the doorframe. “Do you want to borrow some clothes? Jeans are gross as fuck to sleep in.”

“Yeah, please. This gown is annoying.”

He tried not to think too hard about the fact that she was going to be wearing his clothing. Well, clothing that was he didn’t necessarily wear himself, but he could pretty easily say that they’d fit her. Most of them were clothes sent by his aunt who clearly had no idea of his actual size, but he hadn’t the heart to throw them out.

Picking out the clothing, he placed them on the sofa for her to take, treasuring her ‘thank you’ when she walked by.

While she headed to the bathroom, he was quick to get the things from the laundry room to set up her sleeping space. The futon was laid down, accompanied by a thick blanket and one of his nicer pillows. “There,” he announced quite proudly to himself after a few minutes, signature grin on his face. Louis came closer, of course inspecting the bed before laying right on the pillow as she walked out, dressed in the clothing he’d given. The effort it took not to openly gawk was astounding.

Her voice carried from the hallway, her clothing folded in her arms. “Oh, you’re really fast.”

“You have my Mama to thank for that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever see her.” Walking towards the futon, she placed her things down and picked up Louis, quietly telling him that he should go to his bed now. The sight made him want to coo. “Does he have a bed?”

“Not really, he just sleeps at the end of mine.” It was clear Louis wanted to stay where he was, meowing loudly to try and get back down to lay in his spot. “I think he wants to stay, but I can take him if he might bother you.”

“I’m alright,” she said, laying down with him, “he’s like an extra blanket.”

Yangyang moved to turn off the light, hovering near the hallway entrance before the light in the living room went off.

“Thank you,” she said, only the light from the hallway illuminating her face, casting half of it in shadows that made her features seem deeper, like they held more meaning in them than he could have ever previously fathomed. “I want you to know I’m really grateful for you, Yangyang.”

The feeling of not being able to convey what he so desperately wanted to was heavy, mind racing through what he could reply with before he settled on a soft ‘it’s okay’. He would never know if she understood the weight behind it, if she knew that he meant it with every fibre of his being, if she knew that he was close to tumbling over a precipice he wasn’t even aware was there until a few moments ago. "It’s okay," he said, hand moving from the light, ‘I’d do more for you, if you’d let me.’ But the last sentence never left his lips, too afraid of what the consequences would be should he utter them.

She had shifted to lay on her back, Louis curled up on her chest as she brushed her fingers through his fur. “Goodnight.”

“Yeah,” he whispered, “goodnight.” 

When he came to check on her in the morning, there was nothing left aside from a sleeping Louis, an indent on the bed of where her body once was, and a note written and left on the table composed of nothing but a single phrase: I’m sorry.

* * *

The weeks that passed were barely discernible from each other, the hurt he felt slowly subsiding into something a little less noticeable. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her in the shop and he didn't know how he felt about it. 

So he opted not to think about it at all, instead blocking it out and dodging the question every time it was brought up - and it was brought up often. Constantly they would ask where she was and every time he would give them a tight smile, one that never reached his eyes before shrugging. I don't know, he'd say, she's probably busy. 

Business was slow again, the weekdays taking longer to go by than ever before. He nearly found himself wishing he was back in uni doing something again instead of leaning against the counters and staring at walls. 

He had busied himself by making weird drink combinations in the kitchen, trying whatever came to his mind (and the worst just far had to have been the espresso shot and blueberry syrup. He'd had to hold back his gags the entire shift afterwards). Right now, he was stirring a mix of iced coffee and caramel syrup in a cup, just about to spray cream onto the top and down the thing like a man starved, when he noticed something through the windows. 

Squinting a little to see if he was seeing right, he audibly gasped, the drink forgotten about as he ran past the counter. Hyungwon caught sight of him as he swept the floors, his question of 'where are you going?' completely ignored. 

"Hey!" Yangyang yelled, running down the road, trying to keep sight of her. It had been so long that he couldn't be sure he wasn't hallucinating, but his gut told him it was her coat that he'd seen go past the window. "Hey, wait there!" 

Swiping at the hood, he managed to grab onto it, jerking them backwards by accident and for a split second he worried that he'd gotten the wrong person. A hand held tightly onto his wrist, eyes full of warning staring him down before recognition flickered within them and the limb was dropped. 

Her lips were drawn into a straight line. "Do you need something?"

The feeling of the entire world shifting on its axis was jarring, the ground beneath him moving and twisting - trying to get him to trip over himself. "Yeah I do actually." The soft material of her coat ran under the tips of his fingers. "Why the hell haven't you been replying to me? You blocked me again and left without a fucking word."

"I left you a note."

"A note saying you were sorry." He rolled his eyes. "You blocked me right after, everything either never delivered or went to voicemail."

The people that glanced at them as they walked past were insignificant, his world narrowing down only to them both. All he could focus on was her.

"I had to do that."

His ears rang at what he was hearing, the blood rushing past them near deafening. Why did she never give him a straight answer?

"How can you do this to me constantly?" The words were sharp, spoken with enough emotion that his voice threatened to break. "I know you know I like you, but you keep pushing me away like I don't fucking matter."

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find anything within her expression. It was like clawing at a brick wall and searching desperately for gold within the crevices; there was no use and it was wholly humiliating.

"Yangyang, not here-" A knife was forced between his ribs, a searing pain erupting within him. 

"Then where?" He responded, exasperated, "every time I try to talk to you, you always disappear."

"I don't know what you want me to say. I'm sorry for leaving, but I couldn't stay the entire time."

"You didn't even stay the night!"

"Is it that serious?" she snapped, voice harsh and unforgiving, the immediate flicker of remorse in her hues not noticed by him. 

The blade kept twisting and turning, slammed repeatedly into the wound, the back of his eyes stinging. Every ounce of self control he had was used to stop himself from grabbing her sleeve like a fool. It hurt to keep chasing someone that clearly didn't care as much as he did; Yangyang was over it.

"You never gave a shit about me, did you?" He said, voice surprisingly stable for the turmoil within him. The galaxies around him were crumbling, colliding with each other and creating black holes that left him feeling empty. "Am I just your bitch to mess with?"

Her hand tightened into a fist before unclenching. "I never said that."

"You don't need to, I'm not stupid."

He heard her sigh, her hands shoved into her pockets before she carried on walking, not looking back at him even once. Each step felt like she was walking directly across his chest, the air getting thinner as he tried to gulp down the lump in his throat. 

It didn't budge no matter how many times he swallowed.

* * *

Yangyang was unsettled.

Nothing about his usual walk home was amiss, the road as empty as usual with the gold of the lamp posts casting enough light to show him what he needed to see.

Yet, as he carried on walking he felt the hair on his arm rise - as though he was about to be struck by lightning. Weird, he mused, there was nothing to suggest a storm: the night sky clearer than most days.

His breath formed little clouds as he exhaled, the sound of someone's footsteps behind him matching the tempo of his exhales. No wonder he hadn't noticed them before, they were completely in sync with him. Yangyang sped up - moving faster - and their rhythm broke.

'It's fine. Just walk faster and you'll get past this road," he told himself, trying desperately not to panic.

He pulled his jacket closer to him for the sense of security, swallowing down his fear. It was okay, he didn't go down that stupid alleyway; People could see him here.

The ghost of a touch made his skin prickle, the sound of something hitting the floor the next thing he heard. Cold air bit at his cheeks and his neck, his fingers losing blood as he backed away, too astounded to consider running when he turned around to look at what happened.

He never thought that he would ever see her on top of someone, pure aggressive and bone chilling anger loud and explicit within the deep colour of her irises.

Yangyang gawked, limbs feeling like heavy blocks of lead as he stared. The sight was too entrancing, too abnormal, too bizarre to rip his eyes away from.

Fists delivered cold, hard blows against their face, the sound of skin connecting making him cringe. He could hear joints cracking, fingers clawing at her back to try and get her off but she overpowered them - he just didn’t know whether it was from pure rage or from the way she had pinned them down.

He wanted to tell her to stop, to pull her off them and say it was okay because nothing happened, but the chill from the phantom touch ran down his spine and he remained mute, moving into the shadows instead of away from the scene; morbid curiosity kept him rooted.

Swearing echoed and bounced off the walls, her body thrown off them momentarily, letting Yangyang see that it was a man that she’d pushed down and away from him. His lip was busted and his left eye was swollen, dark hues glinting menacingly under the yellow light. “God,” he spat, grabbing her by the collar and shoving her hard against the wall, “why’s it always fucking you that has to come for me, huh?”

“You never fucking learn your lesson.” The hand shifted to her throat, squeezing tightly with the intent to either choke her out or strangle her till she couldn’t move.

“Shut up, you think you’re so damn slick.” The growled words were punctuated with him hitting her head against the wall. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid? That I wouldn’t see you acting like nothing was wrong?”

“C-could’ve fooled me.” She gasped out, the amber lights hitting her face and only adding to the fire. “You’re known for being the oblivious mutt.” He scoffed, arm shaking with the force he was using to keep her pinned.

Yangyang wanted to help her as he saw her nails dig into the hand but he had no experience in fighting. The only thing he had ever done was take a measly three taekwondo lessons and drop out because he wanted to learn violin instead. Looking around frantically, he found a large rock and picked it up, debating on if he should throw it. If he missed this shot, he’d potentially hit her face instead.

He inhaled and prayed, throwing the rock as hard as he could and hearing it connect before seeing the man move, instinctively trying to nurse the injury. Yangyang moved quickly, hiding behind the wall that blocked him from their view, though he could still see what was happening by the window of the shop next to them.

The split second was all she needed, her foot connecting with the middle of his chest and sending him back to the ground. A groan left him, fingers scrambling to grab onto her ankle but she was faster - slamming his face into the ground below. He didn't move after that, rolling onto his back limply. 

She stood up straight, panting as she glared at the man, kicking the mask that had covered his face and was now no doubt saturated.

Scarlet was smeared across her cheek but he doubted it was her own blood. "Come near him again and I swear I'll make you fucking wish I killed you here. Clearly you didn't learn the first time."

The man, despite being barely able to move, managed to laugh, the sound broken and eerie. "And he's what you've been doing all this time?" He snarked, wheezing in the middle of it before coughing, almost gurgling on his own blood. "Fucking bitch."

Yangyang had to shut his eyes when he saw her leg rearing back, the loud crack and howl of pain making his insides turn to ice. "Say hi to your bitches in prison for me."

He drowned out the sound of the heavy breathing and of her speaking into a phone to call the police. His eyes remained shut, legs refusing to move as he pressed himself further against the wall. Maybe she would pass him by, but by now he knew that she was sharper than that.

A hand touched his elbow and he gasped, jerking and stumbling backwards from his hiding spot.

"Go home." The same hand that had beaten the daylights out of someone mere moments ago was now holding onto the sleeve of his jacket - no aggression behind the touch. "You should've left before."

It was one of the few moments in his life where he was completely speechless, unable to think of what to say or do. He should have felt scared, terrified after he watched her beat someone to the brink of death, but when he saw the small, gaudy skull on the mask near their feet, he felt nothing but gratitude.

"Thank you."

She moved her hand to the cuff of the jacket, tugging him along slightly down the road. "Yang-ah, go home."

"I will." His eyes flicked to the cut on her lip, reminded of when he had (then unknowingly) began to fall, when the ground under him started to rumble and crack. "I can clean you up?"

He expected her to say no regardless, the slight shake of her head saying more than enough. Her hand dropped from his, pushing him gently so he would start moving instead of staring at her like she held the answers to all the universe's questions. "Go."

Starting to walk again, he held his hand close to him, wiping away the residual blood on the skin before looking over his shoulder to see no trace of her.

* * *

Louis was the first to get to the door when they heard knocking, three loud and rhythmic hits catching their attention. He padded over, sniffing the door as Yangyang followed behind him. 

"What's up?" He asked, seeing him paw at the door, claws dragging along the surface of it as he meowed loudly, looking at him and then the door again. "Is there catnip or something there?" 

Yangyang shooed him back from the door, opening it up and immediately feeling the same as Louis. "What the fuck?" He uttered, completely floored at what he was seeing.

The space in front of his apartment was filled, boxes stacked ontop of each other. There was different brands of chocolates, some of which he had never bothered to buy solely due to the steep price. Others were of snacks that he had mentioned liking, noodle packs also hiding in the back. Each of them were decorated with little ribbon stars, addressed to him with his name written in neatly printed marker at the top.

He walked out, following behind Louis as he stuck his paw into a bag, making it fall over with a tin of cat treats and an envelope tumble out. Clearly he had his own agenda, trying to bite the tin open before Yangyang moved it away. "One second," he scolded lightly, picking him up instead as he squatted down.

Ripping open the envelope, he pulled out the letter inside. 

'Dear Yangyang,

Really, I don't know what I'm doing by writing you this, but I don't know what I've been doing for so long that it barely even matters. I've been saying sorry to you a lot these days, but I've always meant it and I mean it now: I'm sorry. 

I'm sorry for hiding things from you and for making you feel like I didn't care about you. I care about you a lot actually, in a weird way, I didn't tell you shit so you wouldn't worry. I hope you can forgive me, but it's okay if you don't. I wouldn't forgive me so soon either. It was selfish of me and I understand that now.

I also, after thinking about it for a long time, decided that I would be willing to tell you what's going on. I don't mind how, either call or in person - just not over text. Anything you want, I'll tell you. You deserve to know if you want to.'

The seedling of hope that had remained dormant started blooming again, spreading its roots and stretching out its branches as it filled his lungs. Each star that had been on the brink of burning out was inviting again, shining with more vigour than ever before. 

The paper crumpled a little under his tight grip, eyes scanning around the vicinity to see if he could see anything. Nothing seemed off or out of place (save for his hoard of gifts) and he couldn't see her anywhere. "Are you still here?" He asked, voice bouncing back to him multiple times before fading away. "If you're here... Can you come in?"

Louis squirmed out of his hold, running inside the flat again just a moment before she walked up the stairs, waving shyly. God, he didn't know it was possible for his heart to beat so harshly against his ribs without breaking them. 

Now that there was no darkness to hide her features, he could see that the cuts had healed, her gentle simper indicative of how she was simply here for him and him only. 

She felt like home, the same delicate perfume he had come to adore reaching him as he inhaled, throat dry. "Can I hug you?" He asked, voice a faint whisper.

Her nod was all he needed. 

The soft scent surrounded him as he hugged her tighter, afraid to let go this time. He was always afraid to let go lest she continue slip through his fingers, though he had a feeling this time would be different. 

Her hands moved to his back, returning the gesture. Faint patterns were drawn against his back and if he tried hard enough to discern them, he could feel the barest hint of a heart. 

He pulled away a few moments later to take a step back, only to nearly slip on the treats. "You really go crazy for apologies, don't you?" 

"Only for you," she replied, the nature of her words a little unclear. "You deserved a big apology."

She collected the boxes, picking up most of them and stacking them precariously in her arms as she walked inside the door to place them on the table. He followed behind with his own full arms, the coffee table now completely covered. 

"You're going to have to help me eat this, you know. I can't have all this chocolate without passing out from high blood sugar."

"You're so dramatic," she tutted, hiding the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips, "you can balance it with the salt from the noodles."

He shut the door, locking it behind him before opening up the treats for Louis, seeing that he was messing around with them again. The feline was more than content to dine on the few that Yangyang put in his bowl for him, leaving the two to be alone. 

This time, he didn't bother offering food, telling her she could open one of the many boxes on the table if she felt like it.

"So," he said, sitting down on the sofa beside her, "you said you would explain."

For a few seconds she looked conflicted, struggling on how to tell him something that was beyond their control. But she settled on a deep breath and looking into his soul. 

"I'm in a gang. The Entity's to be exact." There was no hint of joviality, the cold, hard truth knocking the air out of his lungs. "Or I was. It's a little complicated to explain, but I'm one of the higher ranking members within it."

A chill washed over him at the name. Anyone with any street awareness knew of the newer, yet powerful gang that had been gaining momentum. They had been exposed for multiple crimes, though police were never able to track them down at all - their efforts always futile and criticised.

However, one word stuck out to him despite the revelation, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to understand. "Was? Are you still part of it?" 

The sound of air getting sucked in through her teeth was louder than she intended, an apologetic glance sent his way. "Right now I am, but the thing is, I don't want to be. For a while now I've been gathering things on them, little pieces of information that built a profile. I've been debating for a long while on whether it was worth it because if I make a mistake and get exposed as a snitch... Well, I'll just be murdered."

Yangyang was silent, trying to process what she was saying. Everything seemed to suddenly make sense now, from the cuts and grazes she would sport near daily, the envelopes, the gunshots when he'd called her, the parcel - it was all tying together and the fog that had obscured his vision was clearing.

"What happens if you get enough information on them?" He asked, eyes wide and hopeful, believing that she could leave if she truly put her all into it. "Would the police protect you?"

"I already have more than enough on them and I know they won't suspect me of being the rat, but it's still really... It's still so fucking dangerous to go through with it." She groaned, composure slipping as she leant against the sofa. "You know the guy who jumped you? He's the bastard that's been trying to get my position for over a year now. Everyone knows that going for the loved ones of another member is forbidden, but he still tried it with you. If everything goes to hell, they'll blame him for it since he's in prison and was wanted for a load of other shit too."

Her sigh was full of exhaustion, her gaze distant as she stared at the wall, clearly deep in thought. 

All he could think about was how she was exactly the kind of person that his mama had told him not to get involved with, the person that he should avoid at all costs to live a happy life, but the more he thought about it, the less he cared. The only thing he cared for was knowing she was well and safe. 

"If you want to leave, then do it," he said, hand ghosting over hers as he smiled sincerely. "I'm guessing once you're in, there's like, no other way out, so do it. But I want you to be okay."

Her fingers laced with his, squeezing it gently, reassuringly. "I can't promise that."

"Then promise you'll try to be." The 'you need to be' died in his thoughts, though he knew she understood it perfectly. 

"I promise." 

That was all he wanted to hear. 

An idea popped into his head, nervousness about the execution making him fiddle with their joined fingers. A deep inhale later and he was moving closer, thigh brushing hers.

His lips pressed against her cheek, a chaste kiss left on the warm skin, his hold on her hand tightening. 

"You're forgiven, by the way."

* * *

Yangyang had been at the back idly chatting to Hyungwon about different kinds of hair dye ( 'you should use the higher end brands,' Hyungwon was explaining, 'they last longer.' [ and clearly he knew best, the pink yet to fade from his hair]) when he heard Donghyuck yell for him to come over. Excusing himself to go to him, a piece of folded paper was shoved into his hands as the bell chimed to signal someone entering or leaving. 

"Your girlfriend asked me to give you this," Donghyuck said, trying to look over his shoulder before being glared at and elbowed away. "Damn," the boy said, louder than necessary. "You guys are sending love letters while at work?" 

Yangyang scoffed at his childish behaviour

'Two can play at that game,' Yangyang thought, his mouth opening as his voice boomed - not one to be so easily outdone. "Hyuck, I know Hyungwon-hyung looks sexy today. You say it every time you see him, you don't need to tell me constantly. We get it, we know you want to fu-"

A hand was slapped over his mouth and he was shoved away, a middle finger shoved in his direction. "Suck my dick."

"You're using this kind of language in a workplace? I'm going to get you written up," Yangyang teased, deciding to run before he was kicked in the shins. 

Finding a solitary place near the coffee machine, he leant against the counter. 

He unfolded the note with care and precision, smoothing out the corners and the folds so he could read what was written. However, as soon as he did, the smile dropped from his face. 

'I decided I'm going to do it today,' it read, each word neatly written and formed - much too beautiful for something so macabre. 'I knew I couldn't push it off for much longer because I owe it to you. You're the one that finally made me choose to try and free myself, and I know it's sappy but I care for you a lot. I want you to know that even if I don't come back, that you were... are... Someone I deeply treasure.' A blue coloured heart and her name was written at the end, a drawing of a cat with its tail around them filling the empty space at the bottom.

He hadn't realised how hard he had been holding onto the sheet until he let go, the wrinkles prominent on the body of it. 

All he could do was stare wistfully at the paper and nurse the hope he had that she would be back. Either that or he would be left to overcome feelings that he had never been able to bring to fruition.

* * *

It was almost two months later when he received a phone call from an unknown number. The ringtone was loud, waking him up almost instantly as it blared. Even Louis had jumped up, hiding until Yangyang had pulled him into his lap and shushed him. 

"Hello?"

"Yang-ah?" His breath caught in his throat at the voice that came through. "Hi."

"Oh my god." All sleep had left him almost instantly. "You're not dead!"

Laughter came through the speaker, her voice clearer than it had ever been. "I'm too hard to kill." 

"Where are you? I want to see you."

He heard a knock against the door. "Open your door for a surprise."

Nearly throwing down his phone, he scrambled out of bed in his pajamas. He had never ran so fast to open the door in his life.

And when he did, a cat greeted him, the plush face of a toy in his vision. "This is for you, my little gift" he heard her say, her face appearing from behind it as she shut the door behind them with her foot.

Yangyang took the toy, about to shove the whole thing onto the sofa when he noticed paper between the two front paws. A nod from her told him that it was important. 

He took it and opened it, not bothering to be careful with how his hands were trembling from adrenaline. It was a printed piece from The Chosun Ilbo.

A quick skim of the article told him everything: Entity had been ambushed by police during a meeting, with the entire group caught and arrested - sentences ranging from between 10 to the least criminally involved, to life for the leaders.

"They don't suspect you?"

"Not at all," she answered, unable to stop the smile on her face. "I had a rock solid alibi with the leader's husband and they think the bitch in prison snitched. Whatever happens to him isn't my concern." 

"Damn. You're fucking slick."

"I try." 

They were quiet for a moment, the paper placed on the sofa beside the plushie. "So does that mean you can have a normal life now?"

"It does. It also means I can finally put that degree to use and get a job - not that I really need the money." He hummed, mind racing at a hundred miles per minute. 

But there was nothing holding him back now. "...Does it mean you can have a normal relationship too?"

The words hung in the air though it wasn't awkward at all. Instead, he felt her hand on his, the heat spreading through them as she stepped closer. "Is that your way of asking me out?"

He nodded, too dumbfounded to say a thing. 

She leant forward and his eyes closed instinctively, her breath fanning against his face for a moment, and another, before he felt her lips against his. It was soft and sweet, answering all the questions he'd ever had and ridding him of the worries that had been weighing him down. Faintly, he could feel the brush of her fingers against his cheek, moving the hair out of his face so the world could admire him. 

"Does that answer your question?" She asked, barely moving away while his heart pounded in his ears, a giddy feeling in his chest. 

"You should do it again," he said, syllables enunciated breathlessly, "I didn't hear the first time."

He had never seen anything as pretty as her smile, a scoff following right behind it. Nonetheless, she obliged with a butterfly peck to his nose. 

"There," she said as the stars whirled around them both, "now we both have our answer."


End file.
